The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex metropolitan area (commonly referred to as DFW), which had a population of 7,246,231 as of July 1, 2016, representing growth in excess of 807,000 people since the 2010 census.

Located in North Texas, Dallas is the main core of the largest metropolitan area in the South and the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea.[11] Dallas and nearby Fort Worth were developed due to the construction of major railroad lines through the area allowing access to cotton, cattle, and later oil in North and East Texas, the construction of the Interstate Highway System reinforced Dallas' prominence as a transportation hub with four major interstate highways converging in the city, and a fifth interstate loop around it. Dallas developed as a strong industrial and financial center, and a major inland port, due to the convergence of major railroad lines, interstate highways, and the construction of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world.[12]

In 1819, the Adams-Onís Treaty between the United States and Spain defined the Red River as the northern boundary of New Spain, officially placing the future location of Dallas well within Spanish territory.[13] The area remained under Spanish rule until 1821, when Mexico declared independence from Spain, and the area was considered part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas; in 1836, the Republic of Texas, with majority Anglo-American settlers, gained independence from Mexico to become a distinct nation.[clarification needed][14]

In 1839, Warren Angus Ferris surveyed the area around present-day Dallas. John Neely Bryan established a permanent settlement near the Trinity River named Dallas in 1841. The origin of the name is uncertain, the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845 and Dallas County was established the following year. Dallas was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1856.

With the construction of railroads, Dallas became a business and trading center and was booming by the end of the 19th century, it became an industrial city, attracting workers from Texas, the South, and the Midwest. The Praetorian Building of 15 stories, built in 1909, was the first skyscraper west of the Mississippi and the tallest building in Texas for some time, it marked the prominence of Dallas as a city. A racetrack for Thoroughbreds was built and their owners established the Dallas Jockey Club. Trotters raced at a track in Fort Worth, where a similar Drivers Club was based, the rapid expansion of population increased competition for jobs and housing.

On March 3, 1910 Allen Brooks was abducted from court and hung from Elk's Arch. Several hundred white people participated in the lynching in down town Dallas.[15]

Santa Fe Terminal Complex on Commerce St, built in 1924

In 1921, the Mexican president Álvaro Obregón along with the former revolutionary general visited downtown Dallas' Mexican Park in Little Mexico, the small park was located on the corner of Akard and Caruth Street, site of the current Fairmount Hotel,[16] the small neighborhood of Little Mexico was home to the Hispanic population that had come to Dallas due to factors like the American Dream, better living conditions or the Mexican Revolution.[citation needed]

On July 7, 2016, multiple shots were fired at a peaceful protest in downtown Dallas, held against the police killings of two black men from other states. The gunman, later identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, began firing at police officers at 8:58 p.m., killing five officers and injuring nine. Two bystanders were also injured, this marked the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the September 11 attacks. Johnson told police during a standoff that he was upset about recent police shootings of black men and wanted to kill whites, especially white officers, after hours of negotiation failed, police resorted to a robot-delivered bomb, killing Johnson inside El Centro College. The shooting occurred in an area of hotels, restaurants, businesses, and residential apartments only a few blocks away from Dealey Plaza.

Dallas is the county seat of Dallas County. Portions of the city extend into neighboring Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 385.8 square miles (999.3 km2), 340.5 square miles (881.9 km2) of it being land and 45.3 square miles (117.4 km2) of it (11.75%) water.[17] Dallas makes up one-fifth of the much larger urbanized area known as the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, in which one quarter of all Texans live.

South Dallas, a distinct neighborhood southeast of Downtown, lays claim to the Cedars, an eclectic artist hotbed, and Fair Park, home of the annual State Fair of Texas, held in late September and through mid-October.[20] Southwest of Downtown lies Oak Cliff, a hilly area that has undergone gentrification in recent years, in neighborhoods such as the Bishop Arts District. Oak Cliff was a township founded in the mid-1800s and annexed in 1903 by the city of Dallas.[21] Today, most of the area's northern residents are Hispanic, the ghost town of La Reunion once occupied the northern tip of Oak Cliff. South Oak Cliff has a population that is a mixture of African American, Hispanic, and Native American.

South Side Dallas is currently a popular location for nightly entertainment at the NYLO rooftop patio and lounge,[22] The Cedars Social,[23] and the famous country bar Gilley's,[24] the neighbourhood has undergone extensive development and community integration. What was once an area characterized by high rates of poverty and crime is now one of the most attractive social and living destinations in the city.[25]

Further east, in the southeast quadrant of the city, is the large neighborhood of Pleasant Grove. Once an independent city, it is a collection of mostly lower-income residential areas stretching to Seagoville in the southeast. Though a city neighborhood, Pleasant Grove is surrounded by undeveloped land on all sides. Swampland and wetlands separating it from South Dallas will in the future be part of the Great Trinity Forest,[26] a subsection of the city's Trinity River Project which is planned to restore and preserve wetlands, newly appreciated for habitat and flood control.

Dallas and its surrounding area are mostly flat; the city itself lies at elevations ranging from 450 to 550 feet (137 to 168 m). The western edge of the Austin Chalk Formation, a limestoneescarpment (also known as the "White Rock Escarpment"), rises 230 feet (70 m) and runs roughly north-south through Dallas County. South of the Trinity River, the uplift is particularly noticeable in the neighborhoods of Oak Cliff and the adjacent cities of Cockrell Hill, Cedar Hill, Grand Prairie, and Irving. Marked variations in terrain are also found in cities immediately to the west in Tarrant County surrounding Fort Worth, as well as along Turtle Creek north of Downtown.

Dallas, like many other cities, was founded along a river, the city was founded at the location of a "white rock crossing" of the Trinity River, where it was easier for wagons to cross the river in the days before ferries or bridges. The Trinity River, though not usefully navigable, is the major waterway through the city, its path through Dallas is paralleled by Interstate 35E along the Stemmons Corridor, then south alongside the western portion of Downtown and past south Dallas and Pleasant Grove, where the river is paralleled by Interstate 45 until it exits the city and heads southeast towards Houston. The river is flanked on both sides by 50 feet (15 m) tall earthen levees to protect the city from frequent floods.[27]

Since it was rerouted in the late 1920s, the river has been little more than a drainage ditch within a floodplain for several miles above and below downtown Dallas, with a more normal course further upstream and downstream, but as Dallas began shifting towards postindustrial society, public outcry about the lack of aesthetic and recreational use of the river ultimately gave way to the Trinity River Project,[28] which was begun in the early 2000s and was scheduled to be completed in the 2010s. If the project materializes fully, it promises improvements to the riverfront in the form of man-made lakes, new park facilities and trails, and transportation upgrades.

The project area will reach for over 20 miles (32 km) in length within the city, while the overall geographical land area addressed by the Land Use Plan is approximately 44,000 acres (180 km2) in size—about 20% of the land area in Dallas. Green space along the river will encompass approximately 10,000 acres (40 km2), making it one of the largest and diverse urban parks in the world.[29]

White Rock Lake, a reservoir constructed at the beginning of the 20th century, is Dallas' other significant water feature. The lake and surrounding park is a popular destination for boaters, rowers, joggers, and bikers, as well as visitors seeking peaceful respite from the city at the 66-acre (267,000 m2) Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, located on the lake's eastern shore. White Rock Creek feeds into White Rock Lake, and then exits on to the Trinity River southeast of downtown Dallas. Trails along White Rock Creek are part of the extensive Dallas County Trails System.

Dallas has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) that is characteristic of the Southern Plains of the United States. Dallas experiences distinct four seasons. January is typically the coldest month, with an average low of 37.3 °F (3 °C) and an average high of 56.8 °F (14 °C). Winter is mild but snowfall during winter is not uncommon, on average, there are 2 snowy days per year. Summers are very hot and humid. July and August are typically the hottest months, with an average low of 76.7 °F (25 °C) and an average high of 96.0 °F (36 °C). Located at the lower end of Tornado Alley, it is often prone to extreme weather, tornadoes and severe hailstorms.

Winters in Dallas have a normal daily average temperature in January of 47.0 °F (8.3 °C) but sharp swings in temperature as strong cold fronts known as "Blue Northers" pass through the Dallas region, forcing daytime highs below the 50 °F (10 °C) mark for several days at a time and often between days with high temperatures above 80 °F (27 °C). Snow accumulation is seen in the city in about 70% of winter seasons, and snowfall generally occurs 1–2 days out of the year for a seasonal average of 1.5 inches (3.8 cm). Some areas in the region, however, receive more than that, while other areas receive negligible snowfall or none at all.[33]

A few times each winter in Dallas, warm and humid air from the south will override cold, dry air, resulting in freezing rain or ice and causing disruptions in the city if the roads and highways become slick. Temperatures reaching 70 °F (21 °C) on average occur on at least 4 days each winter month. Dallas averages 26 annual nights at or below freezing,[34] with the winter of 1999–2000 holding the all-time record as having the fewest freezing nights, with 14, during this same span of 15 years,[specify] the temperature in the region has only twice dropped below 15 °F (−9 °C), though it will generally fall below 20 °F (−7 °C) in most (67%) years.[34] In sum, extremes and variations in winter weather are more readily seen in Dallas and Texas as a whole than along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, due to the state's location in the interior of the North American continent, the lack of any mountainous terrain to the north leaves it open to the sweep of Arctic weather systems.

Spring and autumn are transitional seasons with moderate and pleasant weather. Vibrant wildflowers (such as the bluebonnet, Indian paintbrush and other flora) bloom in spring and are planted around the highways throughout Texas.[35] Springtime weather can be quite volatile, but temperatures themselves are mild, the weather in Dallas is also generally pleasant from late September to early December and on many winter days. Autumn often brings more storms and tornado threat, but usually fewer and less severe than in spring.

Each spring, cold fronts moving south from the North will collide with warm, humid air streaming in from the Gulf Coast, leading to severe thunderstorms with lightning, torrents of rain, hail, and occasionally, tornadoes. Over time, tornadoes have probably been the biggest natural threat to the city, as it is located near the heart of Tornado Alley.

The all-time record low temperature within the city itself is −3 °F (−19 °C), set on January 18, 1930, while the all-time record high is 113 °F (45 °C), set on June 26 and 27, 1980 during the Heat Wave of 1980 at nearby Dallas–Fort Worth Airport.[34][40] The average daily low in Dallas is 57.4 °F (14.1 °C) and the average daily high is 76.9 °F (24.9 °C). Dallas receives approximately 37.6 inches (955 mm) of rain per year. The record snowfall for Dallas was 11.2 inches (28 cm) on February 11, 2010. Template:Dallas weather box.

As of the 2010 Census Dallas had a population of 1,197,816, the median age was 31.8.

According to the 2010 Census, 50.7% of the population was White (28.8% non-Hispanic white), 24.8% was Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.9% Asian, 2.6% from two or more races. 42.4% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any race).[49]

At the 2006–2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, among the Hispanic population, 36.8% of Dallas was Mexican, 0.3% Puerto Rican, 0.2% Cuban and 4.3% other Hispanic or Latino.[50][51][52]

There were 458,057 households at the 2010 census, out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.1% were headed by married couples living together, 16.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% were classified as non-family households. 33.7% of all households had one or more people under 18 years of age, and 17.6% had one or more people who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.42.[53]

At the 2010 census the city's age distribution of the population showed 26.5% under the age of 18 and 8.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.8 years. 50.0% of the population was male and 50.0% was female.[53]

According to the 2005–2007 American Community Survey, the median income for a household in the city was $40,147, and the median income for a family was $42,670. Male full-time workers had a median income of $32,265 versus $32,402 for female full-time workers, the per capita income for the city was $25,904. About 18.7% of families and 21.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.6% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those aged 65 or over. The median price for a house was $129,600.[54]

Map of racial distribution in Dallas, 2010 U.S. Census, each dot is 25 people: White, Black, AsianHispanic, or Other (yellow)

Dallas' population was historically predominantly white (non-Hispanic whites made up 82.8% of the population in 1930),[47] but its population has diversified due to immigration and "white flight" over the 20th century. Today the non-Hispanic white population has declined to less than one-third of the city's population.[55]

Dallas is a major destination for Mexican immigrants, the southwestern portion of the city, particularly Oak Cliff is chiefly inhabited by Hispanic residents. The southeastern portion of the city Pleasant Grove is chiefly inhabited by black and Hispanic residents, while the southern portion of the city is predominantly black, the West and East sides of the city are predominantly Hispanic; Garland also has a large Spanish speaking population. North Dallas is many enclaves of predominantly white, black and especially Hispanic residents.

The Dallas-Fort-Worth Metroplex has an estimated 70,000 Russian-speakers (as of 6 November 2012[56]) mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Bloc. Included in this population are Russians, Russian Jews, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Moldavians, Uzbek, Kirghiz, and others, the Russian-speaking population of Dallas has continued to grow in the sector of "American husbands-Russian wives". Russian DFW has its own newspaper The Dallas Telegraph.

In addition, Dallas and its suburbs are home to a large number of Asian residents[57] including those of Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, and other heritage.[58] There are also a significant number of people from the Horn of Africa, immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia, with so many immigrant groups, there are often multilingual signs in the linguistic landscape.

According to U.S. Census American Community Survey data released in December 2013, 23 percent of Dallas County residents were foreign-born, while 16 percent of Tarrant County residents were foreign-born.[59]

Recognized for having the sixth largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population in the nation, the Dallas metropolitan is widely noted for being home to a thriving and diverse LGBT community.[60] Throughout the year there are many well-established LGBT events held in the area, most notably the annual Alan Ross Texas Freedom (Pride) Parade and Festival held every September since 1983 which draws tens of thousands from around the world,[61] for decades, the Oak Lawn and Bishop Arts districts have been known as the epicenters of the LGBT community in Dallas.[62]

Dallas' Jewish population of approximately 45,000 is the largest of any city in Texas,[66] since the establishment of the city's first Jewish cemetery in 1854 and its first congregation (which would eventually be known as Temple Emanu-El) in 1873, Dallas Jews have been well represented among leaders in commerce, politics, and various professional fields in Dallas and elsewhere. See History of the Jews in Dallas, Texas for more information.

Furthermore, a large Muslim community exists in the north and northeastern portions of Dallas, as well as in the northern Dallas suburbs, the oldest mosque in Texas is located in Denton, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Downtown Dallas. The oldest mosque in Dallas is Masjid Al-Islam located just south of Downtown Dallas.

A sizable Sikh community resides in Dallas and its surrounding suburbs. There are at least three SikhGurudwaras in this metropolitan area.[70][71][72]

For the atheist, agnostic, nonbeliever and strictly spiritual individuals, there is "The Winter SolstiCelebration", after 15 years, this celebration has become a minor Dallas cultural tradition for the "spiritual but not religious" people of North Texas. "That gentle rejection of commonly held ideas fills many of those who will take part in the event. They are mostly people who refuse to be pigeonholed by any one religion – but who long for the sense of community that an organized faith supplies."[73]

In its beginnings, Dallas relied on farming, neighboring Fort Worth's Stockyards, and its prime location on Native American trade routes to sustain itself. Dallas' key to growth came in 1873 with the building of multiple rail lines through the city, as Dallas grew and technology developed, cotton became its boon and by 1900 Dallas was the largest inland cotton market in the world, becoming a leader in cotton gin machinery manufacturing. By the early 1900s Dallas was a hub for economic activity all over the Southern United States and was selected in 1914 as the seat of the Eleventh Federal Reserve District. By 1925 Texas churned out more than ⅓ of the nation's cotton crop, with 31% of Texas cotton produced within a 100-mile (160 km) radius of Dallas. In the 1930s petroleum was discovered east of Dallas near Kilgore, Texas. Dallas' proximity to the discovery put it immediately at the center of the nation's petroleum market. Petroleum discoveries in the Permian Basin, the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, and Oklahoma in the following years further solidified Dallas' position as the hub of the market.[75]

In the 1980s Dallas was a real estate hotbed, with the increasing metropolitan population bringing with it a demand for new housing and office space. Several of Downtown Dallas' largest buildings are the fruit of this boom, but over-speculation, the savings and loan crisis and an oil bust brought the 80's building boom to an end for Dallas as well as its city sister Houston. Between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, central Dallas went through a slow period of growth. However, since the early 2000s the central core of Dallas has been enjoying steady and significant growth encompassing both repurposing of older commercial buildings in downtown Dallas into residential and hotel uses as well as the construction of new office and residential towers, the opening of Klyde Warren Park, built across Woodall Rodgers Freeway seamlessly connecting the central Dallas CBD to Uptown/Victory Park, has acted synergistically with the highly successful Dallas Arts District so that both have become catalysts for significant new development in central Dallas.

The residential real estate market in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex has not only been resilient but has once again returned to a boom status. Dallas and the greater metro have been leading the nation in apartment construction and net leasing with rents reaching all time highs. Single family home sales, whether pre-owned or new construction, along with home price appreciation are leading the nation.[78][79]

A sudden drop in the price of oil, starting in mid-2014 and accelerating throughout 2015, has not affected Dallas and its greater metro due to the highly diversified nature of its economy. Dallas, and the DFW metro, continue to see strong demand for housing, apartment and office leasing, shopping center space, warehouse and industrial space with overall job growth remaining very robust. Oil dependent cities and regions have felt significant effects from the downturn but Dallas growth has continued unabated, strengthening in 2015. Significant national headquarters relocations to the area (as exemplified by Toyota's decision to leave California and establish its new North American headquarters in the Dallas region) coupled with significant expansions of regional offices for a variety of corporations and along with company relocations to downtown Dallas are helping drive the current boom in the Dallas economy. Dallas leads Texas' largest cities in Forbes' 2015 ranking of "The Best Place for Business and Careers".[80]

The Dallas-Fort Worth MSA has one of the largest concentrations of corporate headquarters for publicly traded companies in the United States. Fortune Magazine's 2017 annual list of the Fortune 500 in America indicates the city of Dallas has 9 Fortune 500 companies,[81] and the DFW region as a whole has 22, [82] reflecting the continued strong growth in the metro economy and up from 20 the year before. [83] Dallas-Fort Worth now represents the largest concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters in the State of Texas, followed by the Houston MSA with its count of 20, down from 24 the year before.[84]

In addition to its large number of businesses, Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other city in the United States and is also home to the second shopping center ever built in the United States, Highland Park Village, which opened in 1931.[91] Dallas is home of the two other major malls in North Texas, the Dallas Galleria and NorthPark Center, which is the 2nd largest mall in Texas. Both malls feature high-end stores and are major tourist draws for the region.[92][93]

According to Forbes magazine's annual list of "The Richest People in America" published September 21, 2011, the city itself is now home to 17 billionaires, up from 14 in 2009; in 2009 (with 14 billionaires) the city placed 6th worldwide among cities with the most billionaires.[94][95] The ranking does not even take into account the 8 billionaires who live in the neighboring city of Fort Worth; in 2013, Forbes also ranked Dallas No. 13 on its list of the Best Places for Business and Careers.[96]

Dallas is currently the third most popular destination for business travel in the United States, and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is one of the largest and busiest convention centers in the country, at over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2), and the world's single-largest column-free exhibit hall.[97]

Also, not far north of downtown is the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University; in 2009 it joined up with "Prado on the Prairie" for a three-year partnership. The Prado focuses on Spanish visual art and has a collection of Spanish art in North America, with works by Picasso, Goya, Velasquez, El Greco, Murillo, Zurbaran, Ribera, Fortuny, Rico, de Juanes, Plensa and other Spaniards, these works, as well as non-Spanish highlights like sculptures by Rodin and Moore, have been so successful of a collaboration that the Prado and Meadows have agreed upon an extension of the partnership.[102]

Deep Ellum, immediately east of Downtown, originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hot spot in the South.[104] Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter and Bessie Smith played in original Deep Ellum clubs such as the Harlem and the Palace. Today, Deep Ellum is home to hundreds of artists who live in lofts and operate in studios throughout the district alongside bars, pubs, and concert venues.[105] A major art infusion in the area results from the city's lax stance on graffiti, and a number of public spaces including tunnels, sides of buildings, sidewalks, and streets are covered in murals. One major example, the Good-Latimer tunnel, was torn down in late 2006 to accommodate the construction of a light rail line through the site.[106]

Like Deep Ellum before it, the Cedars neighborhood to the south of Downtown has also seen a growing population of studio artists and an expanding roster of entertainment venues, the area's art scene began to grow in the early 2000s with the opening of Southside on Lamar, an old Sears warehouse converted into lofts, studios and retail. Within this building, Southside on Lamar hosts the Janette Kennedy Gallery with rotating gallery exhibitions featuring many local, national, and international artists.[107] Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub.[108][109]Dallas Mavericks owner and local entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Avenue near Cedars Station in September 2005, and locals speculate that he is planning an entertainment complex for the site.[110]

South of the Trinity River, the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff is home to a number of studio artists living in converted warehouses. Walls of buildings along alleyways and streets are painted with murals and the surrounding streets contain many eclectic restaurants and shops.[111]

Dallas has an Office of Cultural Affairs as a department of the city government, the office is responsible for six cultural centers located throughout the city, funding for local artists and theaters, initiating public art projects, and running the city-owned classical radio station WRR.[112] The Los Angeles-class submarineUSS Dallas (SSN-700) will become a museum ship located near the Trinity River after her decommissioning in September 2014, she will be taken apart into massive sections in Houston and be transported by trucks to the museum site and will be put back together.

With the opening of Victory Park, WFAA Channel 8 has begun to host an annual New Year's Eve celebration in AT&T Plaza that the television station hopes will reminisce of celebrations in New York's Times Square, and on New Year's Eve 2011 set a new record of 32,000 people in attendance. Also, several Omni hotels in the Dallas area host large events to welcome in the new year including murder mystery parties, rave inspired events, and other events.

The Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League play in nearby Arlington, Texas, since joining the league as an expansion team in 1960, the Cowboys have enjoyed substantial success, advancing to eight Super Bowls and winning five; according to profootballreference.com, as of the end of the 2009 season, they were the winningest active NFL franchise (based on winning percentage; other teams have more wins). Noted as "America's Team", the Dallas Cowboys are financially the most valuable sports franchise in the world, worth approximately 4 billion dollars.[120] In 2009, the Cowboys relocated to their new 80,000-seat stadium in Arlington, which was the site of Super Bowl XLV.[121]

Built in 1913, Turtle Creek Park is a 23.7 acre linear park[133] in-between Turtle Creek and Turtle Creek Boulevard in the aptly named Turtle Creek neighborhood.

Archaeological surveys discovered dart points and flint chips dating 3,000 years to 1,000 B.C. This site was later discovered to be home to Native Americans who cherished the trees and natural spring water, the park is across Turtle Creek from Kalita Humphreys Theater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Opened on July 4, 1906, Lake Cliff Park was called "the Southwest's Greatest Playground", the park was home to an amusement park, a large pool, waterslides, the world's largest skating rink, and three theaters, the largest being the 2,500-seat Casino Theater. After the streetcar bridge which brought most of the park visitors collapsed, Lake Cliff Park was sold, the Casino Theater moved and the pool was demolished after a polio scare in 1959. The pool was Dallas' first municipal pool.[134]

In 1935, Dallas purchased 36 acres (15 ha) from John Cole's estate to develop Reverchon Park.[135] Reverchon Park was named after botanist Julien Reverchon, who left France to live in the La Reunion colony in present-day West Dallas. Reverchon Park was planned to be the crown jewel of the Dallas park system and was even referred to as the "Central Park" of Dallas. Improvements were made throughout the years including the Iris Bowl, picnic settings, a baseball diamond, and tennis courts, the Iris Bowl celebrated many Greek pageants, dances, and other performances. The Gill Well was installed for nearby residents and drew people all across Texas who wanted to experience the water's healing powers,[136] the baseball diamond was host to a 1953 exhibition game for the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians.[137]

As part of the ongoing Trinity River Project, the Great Trinity Forest, at 6,000 acres (24 km2), is the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States and is part of the largest urban park in the United States.[26] The Trinity River Audubon Center is a new addition to the park. Opened in 2008, it serves as a gateway to many trails and other nature viewing activities in the area, the Trinity River Audubon Center is the first LEED-certified building constructed by the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department.

View of Turtle Creek and Turtle Creek Boulevard from a Katy Trail overpass.

Named after its former railroad name, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (or "MKT" Railroad), the 3.5 mile stretch of railroad was purchased by the City of Dallas and transformed into the city's premier trail. Stretching from Victory Park, the 30-acre Katy Trail passes through the Turtle Creek and Knox Park neighborhoods and runs along the east side of Highland Park. The trail currently terminates at Central Expressway, however extensions are under way to extend the trail to the White Rock Lake Trail in Lakewood.[134]

Dallas also hosts three of the twenty-one preserves of the extensive (3,200 acres (13 km2)) Dallas County Preserve System. Both the Joppa Preserve, the McCommas Bluff Preserve the Cedar Ridge Preserve are all within the Dallas city limits, the Cedar Ridge Preserve was formerly known as the Dallas Nature Center, but management was turned over to Audubon Dallas group, which now manages the 633-acre (2.56 km2) natural habitat park on behalf of the city of Dallas and Dallas County. The preserve sits at an elevation of 755 feet (230 m) above sea level, and contains a variety of outdoor activities, including 10 miles (16 km) of hiking trails and picnic areas.

The city uses a council-manager government, with Mike Rawlings serving as Mayor, T.C. Broadnax serving as city manager,[140] and 14 council members serving as representatives to the 14 council districts in the city.[141][142][143] This organizational structure was recently contested by some in favor of a strong-mayor city charter, only to be rejected by Dallas voters; in 1969 Anita N. Martínez become the first Hispanic to sit as a council women in Dallas' city council.[144]

Policing in Dallas is provided predominantly by the Dallas Police Department, which has around 3,500 officers,[145] the Dallas chief of police is David Brown (effective May 5, 2010).[146] The Police Headquarters are located in the Cedars neighborhood of South Dallas.

Fire protection and emergency medical services in the city are provided by Dallas Fire-Rescue, which has 1,800 firefighters[147] and 58 working fire stations in the city limits.[148] The Dallas Fire & Rescue chief is David Coatney[149] The department operates the Dallas Firefighter's Museum built in 1907 along Parry Avenue near Fair Park. Dallas's oldest remaining fire station building still stands at the corner of McKinney Ave. and Leonard and was built in 1892. It was the home of Engine Co. Number 1, and is now a picture framing shop.

In the 2006–2007 fiscal year, the city's total budget (the sum of operating and capital budgets) was $2.3 billion.[150] The city has seen a steady increase in its budget throughout its history due to sustained growth: the budget was $1.7 billion in 2002–2003,[151] $1.9 billion in 2003–2004,[151] $2.0 billion in 2004–2005,[152] and $2.2 billion in 2005–2006.[152]

According to the FBI, a city to city comparison of crime rates is not meaningful, because recording practices vary from city to city, citizens report different percentages of crimes from one city to the next, and the actual number of people physically present in a city is unknown,[153] with that in mind, Dallas' violent crime rate (12.06 per 1,000 people) is lower than that of St Louis (24.81), Detroit (24.22), Baltimore (16.96), Philadelphia (15.62), Cleveland (15.47), Miami (15.09), Washington, D.C. (14.48), Kansas City (14.44) and Boston (13.39). However, Houston (11.69), Los Angeles (7.87), and New York City (6.38) have lower violent crime rates than Dallas.[154]

Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer said in 2002 "the early vote in majority-black precincts in Southern Dallas is the city's only disciplined vote. Especially in citywide elections on issues that are not entwined in the internal politics of the black community, the Southern Dallas African-American vote has a history of responding obediently to the call of leadership."[156]

In the 2004 U.S. Presidential elections, 57% of Dallas voters voted for John Kerry over George W. Bush.[157] Dallas County as a whole was closely divided, with 50% of voters voting for Bush and 49% voting for Kerry.[158]

Results in the 2008 and 2012 elections favored Barack Obama, with the 44th President receiving 57% of Dallas County voters in both years, with greater margins in the city of Dallas itself.

In the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, approximately 68% of Dallas voters voted for Hillary Clinton, with 28% of city voters voting for Donald Trump.[159] Dallas County as a whole saw 61% of voters voting for Clinton, with 35% support for Trump.[159]

In 2004, Lupe Valdez was elected Dallas County Sheriff. An open lesbian, Valdez is currently the only female sheriff in the state of Texas, despite controversies in her handling of county jails, she won re-election in 2008 with a 10-point victory over Republican challenger Lowell Cannaday.[160]

Dallas is a center of education for much of the south central United States; in addition to those located in the city, the surrounding area also contains a number of universities, colleges, trade schools, and other educational institutions. The following describes the various universities and their proximity to the city:

Texas Woman's University (TWU) has operated a nursing school in Dallas at Parkland Memorial Hospital since 1966. The "T. Boone Pickens Institute of Health Sciences-Dallas Center" (IHSD) was opened in 2011 and is a purpose-built educational facility that replaced the original building that TWU had used since 1966. TWU also operated an occupational therapy school at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas from 1977 through 2011 before consolidating those functions into the new IHSD building at Parkland.[162]

Paul Quinn College is a private, historically black college located in southeast Dallas. Originally located in Waco, Texas, it moved to Dallas in 1990 and is housed on the campus of the former Bishop College, another private, historically black college. Dallas billionaire and entrepreneur Comer Cottrell, Jr., founder of ProLine Corporation, bought the campus of Bishop College and bequeathed it to Paul Quinn College in 1990 making it the only historically black college in the Dallas area.[163]

The University of North Texas at Dallas, located along Houston School Road.[164] In 2009 UNT at Dallas became the first public university within Dallas city limits,[165] the University of North Texas System has requested approval from the Texas Legislature and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the State's first new public law school in more than 40 years. Plans are for the UNT College of Law to be based at the Old Municipal Building in downtown Dallas.[166]

Dallas Baptist University (DBU) is a private, coeducational university located in the Mountain Creek area of southwest Dallas. Originally located in Decatur, Texas, the school moved to Dallas in 1965,[167] the school currently enrolls over 5,600 students,[168] and offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees. Popular subjects include Biblical studies, business, and music degrees. DBU has been recognized by the National Council on Teacher Quality for their high quality teacher preparatory degrees,[169] the school also maintains an Intensive English Program for international students wishing to enhance their knowledge of the English language. The campus is a Tree Campus USA and is recognized as one of the most beautiful university campuses in the southwest,[170] the school has also become nationally recognized in the past few years for its baseball team which has made several playoff runs.

Dallas Theological Seminary, also within the city limits, is recognized as one of the leading seminaries in the evangelical faith. Situated 3 miles (5 km) east of Downtown Dallas, it currently enrolls over 2,000 graduate students and has graduated over 12,000 alumni.

Criswell College, (within two blocks of Dallas Theological Seminary). Criswell was started by First Baptist Church of Dallas in the early 1970s, it presently has around 400 students at both the undergraduate and graduate level studying different Biblical and Christian subjects.

Dallas County Community College District, the 2-year educational institution of Dallas County; it has seven campuses located throughout the area with branches in Dallas as well as the surrounding suburbs. DCCCD serves portions of Dallas in Dallas County.

The University of Dallas (UD), in the suburb of Irving, is an enclave of traditional Roman Catholicism in the mostly Protestant religious landscape of Dallas. St. Albert the Great Dominican Priory and Holy Trinity Seminary are located on campus, while the Cistercian Monastery and Cistercian Preparatory School are located just north of the UD campus across Texas State Highway 114. The Highlands School, a PK–12 Legionary school, is just west of the UD campus and connects to campus by jogging trails. As a center for religious study, the Cistercian Monastery continues to be notable for scholastic developments in theology.

Located in downtown Dallas, El Centro College is the flagship institution of the Dallas County Community College District. El Centro first opened its campus doors in 1966 and now enrolls over 10,000 students. El Centro was the first college of the DCCCD to offer a nursing program and has established relationships with several top-notch hospitals in the Dallas area, the college is also the only campus within DCCCD that offers a Food & Hospitality Program as well as renowned programs in fashion design and fashion marketing.[174]

Most people in the city of Dallas are located within the Dallas Independent School District, the 12th-largest school district in the United States and second largest in Texas.[176] The school district operates independently of the city and enrolls over 161,000 students,[176] as of 2003 DISD has the majority of K-12 students in the city of Dallas, and a proportionately larger number of students who are not non-Hispanic White.[177] In 2006, one of the district's magnet schools, The School for the Talented and Gifted in Oak Cliff, was named the best school in the United States (among public schools) by Newsweek, retaining the title in 2007 and regaining the top spot in 2009. Another one of DISD's schools, the Science and Engineering Magnet, placed 8th in the same 2006 survey and moved up to the No. 2 spot the following year.[178] Other Dallas high schools named to the list were Hillcrest, W. T. White, Williams Preparatory, and Woodrow Wilson high schools. Woodrow Wilson was also named the top comprehensive high school in Dallas by local publication D Magazine.[when?]

Many school districts in Dallas County, including Dallas ISD, are served by a governmental agency called Dallas County Schools, the system provides busing and other transportation services, access to a massive media library, technology services, strong ties to local organizations for education/community integration, and staff development programs.[180]

The city is served by the Dallas Public Library system, the system was originally created by the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs with efforts spearheaded by then-president Mrs. Henry (May Dickson) Exall, her work in raising money led to a grant from philanthropist and steel baron Andrew Carnegie, which enabled the construction of the first branch of the library system in 1901.[181] Today, the library operates 27 branch locations throughout the city, including the 8-story J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in the Government District of Downtown.[182]

Dallas has numerous local newspapers, magazines, television stations and radio stations that serve the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as a whole, which is the 5th-largest media market in the United States.[183] Dallas has one major daily newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, which was founded in 1885 by A. H. Belo and is A. H. Belo's flagship newspaper, the Dallas Times Herald, started in 1888, was the Morning News' major competitor until Belo purchased the paper on December 8, 1991 and closed the paper down the next day. Other daily newspapers are Al Día, a Spanish-language paper published by Belo, Quick, a free, summary-style version of the Morning News, and a number of ethnic newspapers printed in languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

Other publications include the Dallas Weekly, the Oak Cliff Tribune and the Elite News, all weekly news publications. The Dallas Morning News also puts out a weekly publication, neighborsgo, which comes out every Friday and focuses on community news. Readers can post stories and contribute content at the website, the Dallas Observer and the North Texas Journal are also alternative weekly newspapers, D Magazine, is a notable monthly magazine about business, life, and entertainment in the Metroplex. Local visitor magazines include "WHERE Magazine" and "Travelhost" – available at hotel desks or in guest rooms; in addition, the Park Cities and suburbs such as Plano also have their own community newspapers. Also, THE magazine covers the contemporary arts scene.

63 radio stations operate within range of Dallas.[184] The city of Dallas operates WRR 101.1 FM, the area's main classical music station, from city offices in Fair Park.[185] Its original sister station, licensed as WRR-AM in 1921, is the oldest commercially operated radio station in Texas and the second-oldest in the United States, after KDKA (AM) in Pittsburgh,[186] because of the city's centrally located geographical position and lack of nearby mountainous terrain, high-power class Amedium-wave stations KRLD and WBAP can broadcast as far as southern Canada at night and can be used for emergency messages when broadcasting is down in other major metropolitan areas in the United States.

Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC), the largest company in the Spanish-language radio station business, is based in Dallas;[187] in 2003, HBC was acquired by Univision and became Univision Radio Inc., but the radio company remains headquartered in the city.[188]

Dallas also has a VA hospital in the southern portion of the city, the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the center is home to a Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP), part of an initiative by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide mail-order prescriptions to veterans using computerization at strategic locations throughout the United States.

Like many other major cities in the United States, the primary mode of local transportation in Dallas is the automobile, though efforts have been made to increase the availability of alternative modes of transportation, including the construction of light rail lines, biking and walking paths, wide sidewalks, a trolley system, and buses.Walk Score ranked Dallas the twenty third most walkable of fifty largest cities in the United States.[189]

Dallas is at the confluence of four major interstate highways—Interstates 20, 30, 35E, and 45. The Dallas area freeway system is set up in the popular hub-and-spoke system, shaped much like a wagon wheel. Starting from the center of the city, a small freeway loop surrounds Downtown, followed by the Interstate 635 loop about 10 miles (16 km) outside Downtown, and ultimately the tolled President George Bush Turnpike. Inside these freeway loops are other boulevard- and parkway-style loops, including Loop 12 and Belt Line Road. Another beltway around the city upwards of 45 miles (72 km) from Downtown is under plan in Collin County.

The recently completed interchange at the intersection of Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway (Interstate 635) and Central Expressway (U.S. Highway 75) contains 5 stacks and is aptly called the High Five Interchange, it is currently one of the few 5-level interchange in Dallas and is one of the largest freeway interchanges in the United States.

The following is a list of the freeways and tollways in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area:

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the Dallas-area public transportation authority, providing rail, buses and HOV lanes to commuters. DART began operating the first light rail system in Texas in 1996 and is now the largest operator of light rail in the US.[190] Today, the system is the seventh-busiest light rail system in the country with approximately 55 stations on 72 miles of light rail, and 10 stations on 35 miles of commuter rail.[191] Four light rail lines and a commuter line are currently in service: the Red Line, the Blue Line, the Green Line, the Orange Line (peak-service only), and the Trinity Railway Express.

The Orange Line initially operated as a peak-service line providing extra capacity on portions of the Green and Red Lines (Bachman Station on the Green Line, through the Downtown transit mall, to Parker Road Station on the Red Line making a "U"-shape). However, the first stage of the Orange Line opened on December 6, 2010, extending its west end from Bachman to Belt Line Station in Irving, the second and final phase opened in August 2014 and provided DFW Airport with rail service. DFW Airport Station is the terminus for the Orange Line and connects Skylink.[192] This provides passengers the convenience of disembarking the DART rail, proceeding to security check-in and immediately boarding Skylink to be quickly transported to their desired terminal, the Blue Line has also been extended by 4.5 miles to serve Rowlett at the Rowlett Park & Ride facility.[193]

In August 2009, the Regional Transportation Council agreed to seek $96 million in federal stimulus dollars for a trolley project in Dallas and Fort Worth. The Oak Cliff Transit Authority took the lead with leaders envisioning a streetcar line that would link Union Station and the Dallas Convention Center in downtown to Oak Cliff, Methodist Medical Center, and the Bishop Arts District via the Houston Street Viaduct.[194] Dallas was awarded a $23 million TIGER grant towards the $58 million Dallas Streetcar Project in February 2010.[195] The Dallas Streetcar Project will link up with the current McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA) trolley line (also known as the M-Line) in Uptown with a new alignment on Olive Street.

In addition to light rail, Amtrak's Texas Eagle also serves Union Station, providing long-distance train service to Chicago, San Antonio and Los Angeles once daily. The Trinity Rail Express terminates at Union Station and T&P Station.

DFW International Airport is located in the suburbs slightly north of and equidistant to Downtown Fort Worth and Downtown Dallas. In terms of size, DFW is the largest airport in the state, the 2nd largest in the United States, and 9th largest in the world; DFW International Airport is larger than the island of Manhattan.

In terms of traffic, DFW is the busiest airport in the state, 4th busiest in the United States, and 11th busiest in the world, the headquarters of American Airlines, the largest air carrier in the world ahead of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, is located less than a mile from DFW within the city limits of Fort Worth. Similarly, Love Field is located within the city limits of Dallas about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Downtown, and is headquarters to Southwest Airlines, the largest domestic airline in the United States.

The city offers garbage pickup and recycling service weekly through its Sanitation Services department.[199] Telephone networks, broadband internet, and cable television service are available from several companies, including AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon FiOS.

City
–
A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a co

1.
1908 map of Piraeus, the port of Athens, showing the grid plan of the city

2.
Ancient Ur of Sumer in present-day Tell el-Mukayyar in Iraq, one of the world's earliest cities

Downtown Dallas
–
Downtown Dallas is the Central Business District in Dallas, Texas USA, located in the geographic center of the city. The square miles, population and density figures in the adjacent table represent the data for this traditional definition, however, the strong organic growth of Downtown Dallas since the early 2000s and continuing into the present ha

4.
Stone Street Gardens is a landscaped oasis lined with bistros, pubs and restaurants connecting Main Street to Elm Street in Downtown Dallas

List of tallest buildings in Dallas
–
Dallas, the 3rd-most populous city in the U. S. state of Texas, is home to 262 high-rises,28 of which stand taller than 400 feet. The tallest building in the city is the 72-story Bank of America Plaza, the skyscraper, one of the first in the United States to receive the Energy Star Award for efficiency, also stands as the 3rd-tallest building in Te

1.
Skyline of Dallas

2.
01.0 1

3.
02.0 2

4.
03.0 3

Dallas County Courthouse (Texas)
–
The Dallas County Courthouse, built in 1892 of red sandstone rusticated marble accents, is a historic governmental building located at 100 South Houston Street in Dallas, Texas. Also known as the Old Red Courthouse, it is now the Old Red Museum and it was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style of architecture by architect Max A. Orlopp, Jr.

1.
Dallas County Courthouse

2.
Dallas County Courthouse (postcard, circa 1909)

NorthPark Center
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NorthPark Center is a large enclosed shopping mall located in Dallas, Texas. The mall is located at the intersection of Loop 12 and US75, the center has over 235 stores and restaurants. NorthPark is the first shopping center featured on Vogue Magazine and it has annual sales of more than $1 billion. NorthPark Center is ranked at number nineteen for

Dallas City Hall
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Dallas City Hall is the seat of Dallas municipal government, located at 1500 Marilla in the Government District of downtown Dallas, Texas. The current building, the fifth city hall, was completed in 1978. The City of Dallas’ idea for a municipal center began when city planning consultants Harland Bartholomew & Associates presented their ideas in 19

1.
Dallas City Hall

2.
City plans from 1946 called for a grand Beaux-Arts municipal center in Downtown Dallas

3.
City Hall Plaza is regularly used for marches and protests [citation needed]

4.
View from City Hall toward downtown

Dallas Museum of Art
–
The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, the new building was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, the 2007 winner of the American Institute

4.
Takenouchi no Sukune Meets the Dragon King of the Sea, Japanese, Meiji period, 1879-81

Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
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The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House is an opera house located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas. Designed as a 21st-century reinterpretation of the opera house, the Winspear seats 2,200 in a traditional horseshoe configuration. The facility is the home of The Dallas Opera and the Texas Ballet Theater, the AT&T Performing Arts Cent

Perot Museum of Nature and Science
–
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a natural history and science museum located in Dallas, Texas. It consists of two campuses, the campus located in Victory Park, and a secondary campus in Fair Park. The Victory Park campus museum was named in honor of Margot, the current chief executive officer of the museum is Colleen Walker. June 6,1936 –

3.
Journey Through The Solar System exhibit at the Expanding Universe hall

State Fair of Texas
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The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I. It usually begins the last Friday in September and ends 24 days later, the State Fair of Texas opening day ceremonies are highlighted by the annual Friday parade rolling throug

Fair Park
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Fair Park is a 277-acre recreational and educational complex located in Dallas, Texas. The area, which is immediately southeast of downtown Dallas, is registered as a Dallas Landmark, many of the buildings were constructed for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. Fair Park has been designated a Great Place in America by the American Planning As

1.
Texas Centennial Exposition Buildings (1936--1937)

2.
The Leonhardt Lagoon

3.
The Cotton Bowl

4.
African American Museum

Union Station (Dallas)
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The structure is a Dallas Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The station is served by Amtraks Texas Eagle with Chicago as the northern terminus, the light rail station serves as a stop on the Red and Blue lines as well as the TRE. The first floor is occupied by an Amtrak ticketing window, waiting room, the second fl

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
–
The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden is a 66-acre botanical garden located at 8617 Garland Road in East Dallas, Dallas, Texas, on the southeastern shore of White Rock Lake. The arboretum is a series of gardens and fountains with a view of the lake, the majority of the grounds were once part of a 44-acre estate known as Rancho Encinal, built fo

1.
DeGolyer Estate

American Airlines Center
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The American Airlines Center is a multi-purpose arena, located in the Victory Park neighborhood, near downtown Dallas, Texas. The venue serves as the home to the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, the arena is also used for concerts and other live entertainment. It opened in 2001 at a cost of $420 million, by 1998, the Dallas

3.
American Airlines Center-Mavericks Victory Party for NBA Championship 2011.

4.
Inside American Airlines Center during a Stars game.

Flag of Dallas
–
The current flag of Dallas, Texas was adopted February 13,1967. It is bisected horizontally by a white line with a dark red top. A large, white 5-pointed star dominates the flag and contains the city seal in buff, the flag in use between 1916 and 1967 was a non-rectangular flag with similar colors to the current flag. The top of the flag is red and

1.
Flag of Dallas

Dallas County, Texas
–
Dallas County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,368,139 and it is Texas second-most populous county and the ninth-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Dallas, which is also Texas third-largest city, the county was founded in 1846 and was possibly named for George Mifflin Dallas, t

1.
The former Dallas County Courthouse in March 2009

2.
Dallas County Jail, 111 West Commerce Street

Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a

1.
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.

United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean,

U.S. state
–
A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of

1.
U.S. states

Texas
–
Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Sta

List of counties in Texas
–
The state of Texas is divided into 254 counties, more than any other U. S. state. Texas was originally divided into municipalities, a unit of government under Spanish. When the Republic of Texas gained its independence in 1836, there were 23 municipalities, many of these would later be divided into new counties. The last county to be created was Ke

Municipal corporation
–
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located, often, this event is marked by the aw

Collin County, Texas
–
Collin County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 782,341, making it the seventh-most populous county in Texas. Collin County is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area, a small portion of the city of Dallas is in the county. Both the county and the co

1.
The Collin County Courthouse in McKinney

Denton County, Texas
–
Denton County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 662,614, the county, which was named for John B. Denton County is included in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, in 2007, it was one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States. Before the arrival of settlers, va

1.
The new Denton County Courthouse, built 1998

Rockwall County, Texas
–
Rockwall County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. At 149 square miles, Rockwall County has the smallest area of any Texas county, as of the 2014 U. S. census estimate, its population was 87,809. The county and city are named for a wall-like subterranean rock formation that runs throughout the county, Rockwall County is part of the Dallas-For

1.
The Rockwall County Courthouse in Rockwall

Kaufman County, Texas
–
Kaufman County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 103,350, both the county, established in 1848, and the city were named for David S. Kaufman, a diplomat and U. S. Kaufman County is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area, western artist Frank Reaugh moved from Ill

1.
The Kaufman County Courthouse in Kaufman

Dallas City Council
–
Dallas is a major city in the U. S. state of Texas. It is the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the citys population ranks ninth in the U. S. and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. The citys prominence arose from its importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries. The bulk of the city is in Dallas County, o

Democratic Party (United States)
–
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democrati

United States Census
–
The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years. The United States Census Bureau is responsible for the United States Census, the first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790, under Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson,

3.
This 1940 Census publicity photo shows a census worker in Fairbanks, Alaska. The dog musher remains out of earshot to maintain confidentiality.

List of United States cities by population
–
The following is a list of the most populous incorporated places of the United States. As defined by the United States Census Bureau, an incorporated place includes a variety of designations, including city, town, village, borough, a few exceptional Census Designated Places are also included in the Census Bureaus listing of incorporated places. Con

Urban area
–
An urban area is a human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, in urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets and in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural e

1.
Greater Tokyo Area, the world's most populous urban area, with about 35 million people.

List of United States urban areas
–
Below is a list of urban areas in the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau, ordered according to their 2010 census populations. In the table, UA refers to urbanized area and UC refers to urban cluster, the list includes urban areas with a population of at least 50,000. To qualify as an area, the territory identified according

Metropolitan area
–
As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban

Combined statistical area
–
A combined statistical area is composed of adjacent metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in the United States and Puerto Rico that can demonstrate economic or social linkage. These areas that retain their own designations as metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas within the larger combined statistical area. The primary distinguis

List of Combined Statistical Areas
–
A combined statistical area is composed of adjacent metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in the United States and Puerto Rico that can demonstrate economic or social linkage. These areas that retain their own designations as metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas within the larger combined statistical area. The primary distinguis

1.
Population tables of U.S. cities

Demonym
–
A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a mem

1.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns

Central Time Zone (North America)
–
The North American Central Time Zone is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time is six hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, during summer most of the zone uses daylight saving time, and changes to Central Daylight Time which

Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a

4.
William Willett independently proposed DST in 1907 and advocated it tirelessly.

UTC-5
–
UTC−05,00 is a time offset that subtracts five hours from Coordinated Universal Time. In North America, it is observed in the Eastern Time Zone during standard time, the western Caribbean uses it year round. The southwestern and northwestern portions of Indiana Mexico – Central Zone Central, in most of Mexico, daylight time starts a few weeks after

1.
Behind (−)

ZIP code
–
ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits

1.
A 1963 U.S. Post Office sign encouraging the use of ZIP codes

3.
"Use Zip code" labels were also used to promote the use of a ZIP code.

4.
USA postage stamp, 1973: "It all depends on ZIP code".

North American Numbering Plan
–
The North American Numbering Plan is a telephone numbering plan that encompasses 25 distinct regions in twenty countries primarily in North America, including the Caribbean and the U. S. territories. Not all North American countries participate in the NANP, each participating country forms a regulatory authority that has plenary control over local

1.
Letters of the alphabet are mapped to the digits of the telephone dial pad.

2.
Countries participating in NANP

Area codes 214, 469, and 972
–
214,469, and 972 are the North American telephone area codes for Dallas, Texas, and most of the eastern portion of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The main area code,214, was one of the area codes established in October 1947. It originally covered the northeastern quadrant of Texas, from Fort Worth to the border with Arkansas. In 1954, most of Tar

Area codes 682 and 817
–
Area codes 682 and 817 are Texas telephone area codes for numbers in Fort Worth and most of the western portion of the Metroplex. Area code 817 was created as a flash-cut sometime during 1953, based on proximity, however, it was probably split from the 915 area code. Originally, it not only covered the portion of the Metroplex, but much of central

Geographic Names Information System
–
It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the

Interstate Highway System
–
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways is a network of controlled-access highways that forms a part of the National Highway System of the United States. The system is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed its formation, construction was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, and th

1.
A rural stretch of I-5, with two lanes in each direction separated by a large grassy median and with cross-traffic limited to overpasses and underpasses

Interstate 20 in Texas
–
The original distance of Interstate 20 was 647 miles from I-10 to the Louisiana border, reduced to the current distance of 636 miles with the rerouting of I-20 in the 1980s and 1990s. I-20 is known as the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Interstate 20 in Texas was designated in 1959, and was to replace or run p

1.
I-20 in southern Fort Worth

2.
Interstate 20

Interstate 30
–
Interstate 30 is an Interstate Highway in the southern United States spanning Texas and Arkansas. I-30 runs from I-20 west of Fort Worth, Texas, northeast via Dallas, the route parallels U. S. Route 67 except for the portion west of downtown Dallas. I-30 intersects with two of the 10 major north–south Interstates and also with the major Interstate

1.
From top to bottom and Left to Right: 1. San Antonio downtown from the Tower of The Americas at night. 2. The Riverwalk 3. The McNay Museum of Art 4. The Tower Life Building 5. Bexar County courthouse 6. San Antonio Public Library 7. The Tower of the Americas at night 8. The Alamo

3.
Ike Altgens ' photo of the Presidential limousine taken between the first and second shots that hit President Kennedy. President Kennedy's left hand is in front of his throat and Mrs. Kennedy's left hand is holding his arm.

4.
Polaroid photo by Mary Ann Moorman taken a fraction of a second after the fatal shot (detail).

3.
Pei describes the architecture of Shanghai's Bund waterfront area (seen here in a 2006 photo) as "very much a colonial past".

4.
Pei said that " Bing Crosby 's films in particular had a tremendous influence on my choosing the United States instead of England to pursue my education."

LIST OF IMAGES

1.
City
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A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output

2.
Downtown Dallas
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Downtown Dallas is the Central Business District in Dallas, Texas USA, located in the geographic center of the city. The square miles, population and density figures in the adjacent table represent the data for this traditional definition, however, the strong organic growth of Downtown Dallas since the early 2000s and continuing into the present has now resulted in Downtown Dallas, Inc. In total there are 15 districts that now form the definition of Downtown, Downtown Dallas achieved notoriety on November 22,1963, with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Both President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally were shot as their motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in what is now the West End Historic District, part of the former Texas School Book Depository is now the Sixth Floor Museum, with exhibits about Kennedy and the assassination. Nearby is the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial, the building boom of the 1970s and 1980s produced a distinctive contemporary profile for the downtown skyline, influenced by nationally prominent architects. Downtown Dallas has also gained more recent national attention, as it was the location of the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, the area is undergoing a transition as dozens of residential conversions and new high rise condos bring more permanent residents to the downtown area. As of mid-2013, there were approximately 4980 residences available in downtown Dallas and its redeveloped Main Street has recently become more of a place for Dallasites to play after several restaurants, hotels, and residential towers opened their doors along the strip. The city has invested $160 million of funds in downtown Dallas for residential development that attracted $650 million of private investment. Additionally, the $200 million 42-story Museum Tower residential skyscraper in the Downtown Dallas Arts District was completed in 2013, importantly, The Trinity River Corridor is poised to undergo a significant transformation into a giant urban park. The park is expected to include a center, lakes, trails. Funding over the years, however, has been a constant problem, though serious work on the project now appears eminent, with the first two bridges having received significant private backing. Downtown Dallas has undergone a series of important changes that city officials believe will drastically improve the citys core and these changes are located in four downtown areas, Victory Park, the Arts District, the Trinity River, and the Convention center corridor. Also currently under construction in Victory Park is the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science, One of the prominent attractions in the Arts District is the Dallas Museum of Art. Of all the changes in downtown Dallas, the Trinity River corridor is undergoing the most dramatic, dubbed the Trinity River Project by local officials, plans are also in place for improved levies to protect downtown from possible flooding. Separated from Victory Park and the Arts District by the Downtown Central Business District, is the Convention Center corridor, the Omni Dallas Hotel is a new 23-story convention center hotel that opened in 2011. The park is called an urban oasis due to its unique location. AT&T is headquartered at the Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, AT&T moved to Dallas from San Antonio, mayor of Dallas Tom Leppert said in 2008 that he hoped that AT&T would stay in the central city. Comerica is headquartered in the Comerica Bank Tower, TM Advertising has its headquarters in the same building

Downtown Dallas
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Downtown Dallas from the Trinity River Greenbelt Park
Downtown Dallas
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Downtown Dallas as seen from Lake Cliff in Oak Cliff.
Downtown Dallas
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Dallas skyline from the West Village neighborhood
Downtown Dallas
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Stone Street Gardens is a landscaped oasis lined with bistros, pubs and restaurants connecting Main Street to Elm Street in Downtown Dallas

3.
List of tallest buildings in Dallas
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Dallas, the 3rd-most populous city in the U. S. state of Texas, is home to 262 high-rises,28 of which stand taller than 400 feet. The tallest building in the city is the 72-story Bank of America Plaza, the skyscraper, one of the first in the United States to receive the Energy Star Award for efficiency, also stands as the 3rd-tallest building in Texas and the 22nd-tallest building in the nation. The second-tallest building in Dallas is the Renaissance Tower, which rises 56 floors and 886 feet, overall, of the ten tallest buildings in Texas, three are located in Dallas, the other seven are all in Houston. Overall, Dallas is the site of 19 skyscrapers that rise at least 500 feet in height, as of 2013, the citys skyline is ranked second in Texas, 12th in the United States and 78th in the world with 42 buildings rising at least 330 feet in height. The 560-foot Museum Tower is the most recently completed high-rise in the city, completed in 2012, the building is located in Dallas Arts District and now stands as the second-tallest all-residential skyscraper in the city, behind Republic Center Tower I. Overall, as of February 2013, there were 26 high-rise buildings under construction or proposed for construction in Dallas and this list ranks completed and topped out skyscrapers in Dallas that stand at least 400 feet, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts, an equal sign following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings. The Year column indicates the year in which a building was completed, freestanding observation towers, while not habitable buildings, are included for comparison purposes but not ranked. This lists buildings that are under construction in Dallas and are planned to rise at least 250 feet, * Table entries with dashes indicate that information regarding building heights or dates of completion has not yet been released. This lists buildings that are approved or proposed for construction in Dallas and are planned to rise at least 86 meters, * Table entries with dashes indicate that information regarding building heights or dates of completion has not yet been released. This lists buildings that held the title of tallest building in Dallas. The first skyscraper in the city is considered the Praetorian Building. The Praetorian Building was also the first skyscraper constructed in the Southwestern United States and is classified as the first skyscraper constructed in the Western United States. However, depending on definition of the West, this title could also go to the 1885 Lumber Exchange Building in Minneapolis. List of tallest buildings in Texas List of tallest buildings in Houston A, ^ According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, freestanding observation towers are not considered buildings, as they are not fully habitable structures. This structure is included for comparative purposes, ^ This excludes the height of the buildings five rooftop spires, which were not added until 1987. With the addition of the spires, the height was extended to 886 feet. General Emporis. com - Dallas Specific Diagram of Dallas skyscrapers on SkyscraperPage Dallas Architecture DallasSky DallasCondos. com

4.
Dallas County Courthouse (Texas)
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The Dallas County Courthouse, built in 1892 of red sandstone rusticated marble accents, is a historic governmental building located at 100 South Houston Street in Dallas, Texas. Also known as the Old Red Courthouse, it is now the Old Red Museum and it was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style of architecture by architect Max A. Orlopp, Jr. of the Little Rock, Arkansas based firm Orlopp & Kusener. In 1966 it was replaced by a courthouse building nearby. On December 12,1976, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, in 2005-2007 the building was renovated. Media related to Old Red Museum at Wikimedia Commons Official Old Red Museum website

5.
NorthPark Center
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NorthPark Center is a large enclosed shopping mall located in Dallas, Texas. The mall is located at the intersection of Loop 12 and US75, the center has over 235 stores and restaurants. NorthPark is the first shopping center featured on Vogue Magazine and it has annual sales of more than $1 billion. NorthPark Center is ranked at number nineteen for one of the largest malls in the United States, in the early 1960s, developer Raymond Nasher leased a 97-acre cotton field on the edge of Dallas and hired E. G Hamilton of Harrell+Hamilton Architects. For its first 34 years, NorthPark stood on land leased from the Caruth family’s foundation, david and Nancy Nasher purchased the property in 1999. In 2006, NorthPark opened its doors to an expansion that more than doubled the size of the existing center, for its expansion, NorthPark brought back the same architecture firm that designed the original section to ensure its aesthetic was respected and enhanced. The expansion also included a new collection of specialty retail shops, the new two-story expansion finally provided for circulation around the Center, by forming a continuous loop through the entire complex. The American Film Institutes Dallas International Film Festival was sponsored by NorthPark Center in 2009, the event was held in the AMC NorthPark 15 Theater, which also hosted screenings during the festival’s first two years. NorthPark is the home of Texas first H&M, a label from Sweden. H&M has since opened locations in Texas. 2006 also marked the year that the tenth annual Fashion. Dallas/Kim Dawson Model Search competition relocated from Galleria Dallas and this competition helps launched the careers of supermodel Erin Wasson, Mimi Roche, Chaise Mooty, Ali Michael and hundreds of other successful models. From its inception, NorthPark Center has made art a part of its interior landscape. NorthPark received the American Institute of Architects Award for Design of the Decade - 1960s as one of the first commercial centers in the United States to create space for the display of fine art. NorthPark was honored again in 1992 with the A. I. A. s 25-Year Award for Design Excellence, designed by Omniplan in the early 1960s, NorthPark Center has maintained an honesty to its original design. For the most recent expansion, NorthParks owners returned to the firm responsible for the 1960s design. The expansion turned NorthParks original U-shape into a square surrounding a 1. 4-acre landscaped garden known as CenterPark. Furthermore, it allegedly provides NorthPark with the distinction of being the only shopping center in the country built around a landscaped garden, NorthPark Center received both the Texas Society of Architects annual Design Award and the 25-year Design Award in 2007 for the original design. Even as it hits the point in age, NorthPark Center has not suffered the dead mall fate of others of similar age

6.
Dallas City Hall
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Dallas City Hall is the seat of Dallas municipal government, located at 1500 Marilla in the Government District of downtown Dallas, Texas. The current building, the fifth city hall, was completed in 1978. The City of Dallas’ idea for a municipal center began when city planning consultants Harland Bartholomew & Associates presented their ideas in 1944. The idea was to relocate from the current Dallas Municipal Building to a grand Beaux-Arts complex of city and federal offices, two sites downtown were possible contenders, one north centered on Federal Street and Akard, and one south centered on Young Street. Plans proceeded until cost estimates shocked city leaders and the plan was shelved, although land at the southern site was acquired by the city for future use. The 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy turned the world against the city, as Dallas became known as the “City of Hate. ”Dallas Mayor Erik Jonsson made it a priority to reinvent the image. One of goals, Design of the City, was summarized by the statement, We demand a city of beauty and this was the start of the movement to create a new modern City Hall and municipal center. The mayor was involved with the project, and a committee of prominent citizens settled on I. M. Pei to design the new facility. Construction began on June 26,1972 under the direction of contractor Robert E. McKee, the project was completed in three phases. The City accepted the garage parking areas in November 1974, the Park Plaza in May 1976, the cost of design and construction of the building, the Park Plaza and the garage was over $70 million. Controversies arose over cost overruns and aesthetic issues, though most problems were addressed, the first Dallas City Council meeting was held in the buildings City Council Chamber on February 1,1978, and the entire facility was formally opened and dedicated on March 12,1978. When you do a city hall, it has to convey an image of the people, the people I met – rich and poor, powerful and not so powerful – were all very proud of their city. They felt that Dallas was the greatest city there was, and I could not disappoint them, – I. M. Pei I. M. Pei’s modernist inverted pyramid design is a result of space requirements from city government. Public areas and citizen services required much less space than offices that ran the government, the building slopes at a 34° angle, with each of the 7 above-grade floors being 9½ feet wider than the one below. This inclined façade interacts with the buildings it faces downtown and provides protection from the weather, the foundation and basement levels are considerably wider than the apparent footprint of the structure, extending out beneath the inclined facade. The cantilevered roof is 200 feet wide, the floor is 126 feet wide. When Mayor Jonsson reacted to the apparent top-heaviness of the shape,3 cylindrical pillars that appear the hold up the structure were created. These contain stairwells that had originally been concealed within the design and these pillars only provide visual support and do not bear the load of the building

Dallas City Hall
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Dallas City Hall
Dallas City Hall
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City plans from 1946 called for a grand Beaux-Arts municipal center in Downtown Dallas
Dallas City Hall
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City Hall Plaza is regularly used for marches and protests [citation needed]
Dallas City Hall
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View from City Hall toward downtown

7.
Dallas Museum of Art
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The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, the new building was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, the 2007 winner of the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal. The museum collection is made up of more than 24,000 objects and it is also defined by its dynamic exhibition policy and award-winning educational programs. The Mildred R. and Frederick M. Mayer Library contains over 50,000 volumes available to curators, with 159,000 square feet of exhibition spaces, it is one of the largest art museums in the United States. The museums history began with the establishment in 1903 of the Dallas Art Association, frank Reaugh, a Texas artist, saw in the new library the opportunity to display works of art. This idea was championed by May Dickson Exall, who was the first president of the Dallas Public Library. ”The museum’s collections started growing from this moment on and it soon became necessary to find a new permanent home. The museum, renamed the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in 1932, relocated to a new art deco facility within Fair Park in 1936 and this new facility was designed by a consortium of Dallas architects in consultation with Paul Cret of Philadelphia. It is still possible to visit this building, in 1943, Jerry Bywaters became the director of the museum, a position he held for the next twenty-one years. Artist, art critic, and teacher, Bywaters gave a sense of identity and community to the museum, under Bywaters tenure, impressionist, abstract, and contemporary masterpieces were acquired and the Texas identity of the museum was emphasized. This identity is represented by works by Alexandre Hogue, Olin Herman Travis, Bywaters himself. In 1963, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts merged with the Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art, rueppel became the director of the newly merged Museum. In 1965, the museum held an exhibition called The Art of Piet Mondrian and one entitled Sculpture, by the late 1970s, the greatly enlarged permanent collection and the ambitious exhibition program fostered a need for a new museum facility. Under Harry Parker’s direction, the museum was able to once again, to its current venue. The $54 million facility, designed by New York architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, was financed by a 1979 City bond election, the project was galvanized by the slogan “A Great City Deserves a Great Museum, ” and the new building opened in January 1984. The museums collections include more than 24,000 works of art from around the world ranging from ancient to modern times and they are conceived as a celebration of the human power of creation. Objects in the museum’s African collection come from West Africa and Central Africa, the objects date primarily from the 16th to the 20th centuries, although the earliest object is a Nok terracotta bust from Nigeria that dates from somewhere between 200 BC to 200 AD. Some works in the collection were created as symbols of leadership and status, the American art collection includes paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the United States from the colonial period to World War II, and art from Mexico, and Canada. One of the most important pieces in the collection is The Icebergs by Frederic Edwin Church and this painting had long been referred to as a lost masterpiece

8.
Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
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The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House is an opera house located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas. Designed as a 21st-century reinterpretation of the opera house, the Winspear seats 2,200 in a traditional horseshoe configuration. The facility is the home of The Dallas Opera and the Texas Ballet Theater, the AT&T Performing Arts Center also produces original programming and partners with local and national organizations to present a wide range of other cultural performances at the venue. These offerings include music, dance, Broadway shows, concerts, groundbreaking for the AT&T Performing Arts Center and Winspear Opera House was held in October 2006. The venue was designed by Foster and Partners and made possible in part by a gift from Margot and Bill Winspear. The London firm Sound Space Design developed the design of the opera house. Theatre planning and theatre equipment design were by Theatre Projects Consultants, the stages were also equipped with appropriate flooring for performances of ballet and other forms of dance. The opera house was presented to the public tours and performances during the Center’s opening week. The first opera performance took place on October 23,2009 with Verdis Otello, the Annette and Harold Simmons Signature Glass Façade wraps around the building, creating a transparency between the opera house and the surrounding Performance Park. An 84-foot wide section of the glass façade is retractable to a height of 23 feet, literally opening up the Grand Lobby, Cafe, the Grand Portico, radiating from the opera house on all sides, provides shade over 3 acres of the Performance Park. The solar canopys louvers are arranged at fixed angles following the path of the sun, by eliminating most direct sunlight on the façade and by creating a cooler microclimate around the building, the canopy significantly reduce the energy requirements of the Winspear Opera House. In May 2009 artist Guillermo Kuitca was commissioned to design the stage curtain, the design abstracts the seating plan for the Winspear’s Margaret McDermott Performance Hall and reproduces this image onto the curtain itself. A key design feature is the 318-rod chandelier located inside the performance hall, the chandelier hangs 50 feet below the ceiling. Starting Friday, June 28,2013, the traditional pre-performance ascent of The Moody Chandelier has been accompanied by an exclusively adapted piece “The Light” by American composer Philip Glass. Once retracted into the ceiling, it leaves the impression of a star lit night, the acrylic rods are illuminated by three primary color LEDs which allows the chandelier to be lit in virtually any color. Dallas Center for the Performing Arts website Renderings and architectural details of the opera house on arcspace. com

Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
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Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
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Western view of the Winspear Opera House. The Annette Strauss Artist Square will be housed under this section of the building's portico
Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
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Auditorium and chandelier during opening night

9.
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
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The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a natural history and science museum located in Dallas, Texas. It consists of two campuses, the campus located in Victory Park, and a secondary campus in Fair Park. The Victory Park campus museum was named in honor of Margot, the current chief executive officer of the museum is Colleen Walker. June 6,1936 – Dallas Museum of Natural History was opened to the public as part of the 1936 Texas Centennial Exhibition, september 20,1946 – Dallas Health Museum was founded by a group chartered as the Dallas Academy of Medicine. The Dallas Health Museum was renamed as the Dallas Health and Science Museum in 1958 and it was later renamed to the Science Place in 1981. 1995 – Dallas Childrens Museum was founded, in 2006, museum CEO Nicole Small oversaw the uniting of the Dallas Museum of Natural History and the Science Place and the Dallas Childrens Museum at Fair Park. On June 1,2014 the Perot Museum of Nature and Science welcomed a new CEO, the museum was relocated on December 1,2012 to a new facility in Victory Park. The former Science Place Building and Planetarium were closed, with the building for the former Dallas Museum of Natural History converted into a campus for the Perot Museum. The donated funds enabled the museum to be built without incurring any debt or public funding, the 180,000 square feet facility has 6 floors and stands about 14 stories high. It has five floors which are accessible to the public and houses 11 permanent exhibit halls as well as 6 learning labs, the top-most floor houses the museums administration offices. The Victory Park campus opened its doors to the public on December 1,2012, approximately 6,000 visitors came to the museum on its first day of operation. It has a roof which features a landscape of drought-tolerant greenery inspired by Dallas surroundings. The building features a 54-foot continuous flow escalator housed within a 150-foot glass casing that extends diagonally outside the building cube, to maximize sustainability, the building also features LED lighting, off-grid energy generation technology and solar-powered water heating. Skylights were installed to draw natural sunlight to the atrium and to the other spaces, the building has secured from the Green Building Initiative the highest possible 4 Green Globes. It obtained a rating of an overall 85% on the Green Globes rating scale and 100% for its design, Green Globes is a nationally recognized green building guidance and assessment program in the United States. The Green Globes rigorous assessment is also the most closely aligned certification to United States federal building requirements, the Green Globes achievement is a rarity in United States building industry where only 12 out of 759 certified buildings have reached a four Globe certification. The Victory Park building was designed and built using green building practices so that it would serve as a model of sustainability, the 297-seat Americans with Disabilities Act compliant theater has a 2D, 3D 4K digital projection and sound system. The theater features a variety of films from educational features and documentaries to experimental independent films, the museum at Fair Park features exhibits such as Mineral Majesty, Light Play and historical dioramas

Perot Museum of Nature and Science
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Victory Park building in February 2013.
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
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Tyrannosaurus rex model in Life Then and Now hall
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
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Journey Through The Solar System exhibit at the Expanding Universe hall

10.
State Fair of Texas
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The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I. It usually begins the last Friday in September and ends 24 days later, the State Fair of Texas opening day ceremonies are highlighted by the annual Friday parade rolling through downtown Dallas. Traditionally, the centerpiece of the fair has been the college football game between Oklahoma and Texas, nicknamed the Red River Rivalry and played in the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park. Also, the State Fair Classic, featuring Grambling State University, in 2010, Baylor and Texas Tech played their game during the fair for the first time. During the opening weekend of the 2013 fair, Army and Louisiana Tech played in the only Heart of Dallas Classic at the Cotton Bowl, it was abandoned thereafter. The new Texas State Fair Football Showdown is scheduled to take place on the weekends of the 2017 and 2018 fairs and will feature Southern. The State Fair of Texas is the fair in the country to include a full blown auto show. The State Fair used to feature Birds of the World where several birds flew overhead and it was removed from the Fair lineup in 2014. The Texas Skyway is a ride which only operates 24 days a year transports visitors around the fairgrounds. Its construction cost 5 million dollars, there is also a BMX bike show as well as dog and pig races. For children, puppet shows, Childrens Medical Center Barnyard, in recent years, the fair has emphasized its reputation as an event featuring unique, albeit high-fat foods. It has been known for years for Fletchers brand corny dogs, new foods in 2008 included chicken fried bacon and fried banana splits. For the 2012 fair, the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas added the deep-fried Samoa cookie, the State Fair of Texas was originally charted as a private corporation by local businessmen. It was a success and attracted thousands of people. However, in 1904 a series of events led to a financial crisis, therefore, the businessmen sold it to the city of Dallas with the agreement that 24 days during the fall would be set aside annually for the fair and exhibition. Big Tex, a 55-foot tall cowboy statue, has been its symbol since his introduction in 1952, in 1953, Big Texs jaw was hinged, so that he appears to speak the announcements that promote fair events. After a fire on October 19,2012 destroyed the original Big Tex, he was rebuilt and its 212-foot Texas Star Ferris wheel has been the largest in North America since it debuted in October 1985, just months before the Texas Sesquicentennial

State Fair of Texas
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The State Fair of Texas
State Fair of Texas
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Big Tex, mascot of the fair since 1952
State Fair of Texas
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Texas StarFerris wheel at night
State Fair of Texas
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The Texas Star ferris wheel ride

11.
Fair Park
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Fair Park is a 277-acre recreational and educational complex located in Dallas, Texas. The area, which is immediately southeast of downtown Dallas, is registered as a Dallas Landmark, many of the buildings were constructed for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. Fair Park has been designated a Great Place in America by the American Planning Association, the site was established as an 80-acre fairground on the outskirts of East Dallas for the Dallas State Fair in 1886. In 1904, after a fire and financial loss by the fair association and it became Dallas second public park and became known as Fair Park. An important figure in Fair Parks development was landscape architect and city planner George Kessler, in 1906, he was responsible for the first formal plan for the park influenced by the City Beautiful Movement. The City Beautiful Movement advocated well planned public spaces, tree-lined boulevards, monuments, public art, a milestone in Fair Parks history was 1936, when the Texas Centennial Exposition was held there. In preparation for the event, the appearance of the park was dramatically altered by architect George Dahl. The park was transformed from an early 20th-century fairground into an Art Deco showcase, while many of the expositions buildings were meant to be temporary, several have survived and have been restored to some extent. Over the years the park was expanded to its current 277 acres, Fair Park was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986 and in 1988 administration of the park was transferred to the Dallas Parks Department. Today, the facilities and annual events attract an unsubstantiated estimate of 5 million visitors annually. Many of the art deco buildings have been restored visually to their 1936 appearance. In anticipation of DARTs light rail service the historic Parry Avenue entrance gates were restored in 2009, the four cameo reliefs on Centennial Building underwent a professional conservation treatment in 2000 and the Esplanade fountain pylons and six monumental sculptures in 2004. Several sculptures were reconstructed and feature a light and water show. In 2003, the Fair Park Comprehensive Development plan was produced by Hargreaves Associates and this comprehensive plan included recommendations for the physical site, park programs, activities, funding options, and management alternatives. The park received a $72 million city bond allocation in 2006 for repairs, in September 2014, a blue ribbon task force appointed by Mayor Mike Rawlings submitted a report on the rejuvenation of Fair Park. In March 2015, the State Fair pushed back on any notion of tightening up the footprint of its current operation, wilonsky also quoted a ‘prominent member of the Mayors Task Force’ as suggesting privately that the State Fairs presence at Fair Park also needs to be greatly reduced. Under the Mayors plan, the city would own the 277-acre site. Many Dallas cultural institutions call Fair Park home, Hall of State The Hall of State is managed by the Dallas Historical Society, which hosts exhibits inside about Dallas history and culture

12.
Union Station (Dallas)
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The structure is a Dallas Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The station is served by Amtraks Texas Eagle with Chicago as the northern terminus, the light rail station serves as a stop on the Red and Blue lines as well as the TRE. The first floor is occupied by an Amtrak ticketing window, waiting room, the second floor contains the restored Grand Hall and several meeting rooms named after railroads that previously serviced Dallas. The second floor and a mezzanine are operated by Wolfgang Puck Catering, at the peak of its usage, as many as 80 trains stopped each day at the station. It was designed by Jarvis Hunt, who designed other large train stations, in 1954, the building served as a temporary library while the Dallas Public Library system built a new central library to replace the original Carnegie Library. Originally, the 2nd level waiting room was connected to platforms via an overhead walkway. Escalators were added, but the Grand Hall was finally abandoned in favor of renovated ticketing, also, an underground corridor replaced the overhead walkway, with ramps at each platform. The last privately owned passenger train to serve Union Station, the Missouri Pacific Railroads Texas Eagle, Amtrak service began on March 14,1974 with the Inter-American between St. Louis and Laredo, the train evolved into todays Texas Eagle. DARTs light-rail service began at the station on June 14,1996, the stations upper-level waiting room was re-purposed into meeting and convention space for the Hyatt Regency Dallas, which is connected via an underground walkway. They had painted them on the walls of the lobby at the old Dallas City Hall Building. In 1954, the murals were destroyed when City Hall relocated. When the station was renovated to accommodate light rail usage, the murals were partially recreated by Phillip Lamb along the platforms at Union Station. In October 2016, the station was renamed the Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station in honor of US

13.
Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
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The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden is a 66-acre botanical garden located at 8617 Garland Road in East Dallas, Dallas, Texas, on the southeastern shore of White Rock Lake. The arboretum is a series of gardens and fountains with a view of the lake, the majority of the grounds were once part of a 44-acre estate known as Rancho Encinal, built for geophysicist Everette Lee DeGolyer and his wife Nell. Mrs. DeGolyers interests included her extensive flower gardens, the DeGolyer Home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since 1976, the DeGolyer estate has formed the largest portion of the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, the addition of the adjoining Alex and Roberta Coke Camp estate increased the size of the grounds to sixty-six acres. The 22, 000-square-foot Spanish-style DeGolyer Home was completed in 1940, the DeGolyer Garden Cafe/Loggia, located at the back of the DeGolyer Home, overlooks White Rock Lake and the tiered fountains and formal landscapes of A Womans Garden. Also located on the grounds is a concert stage, picnic areas. In September 2002, Arboretum facilities were expanded with the opening of the new visitors center named for Dallas developer Trammell Crow, the center consists of a gift shop, meeting room, gazebo, and a patio area overlooking White Rock Lake. At night, one may view downtown Dallas with the skyscraper lights reflecting upon the water, the gazebo is named for Gisela Rodriguez and was financed in part by donations from her son Marcos A. Rodriguez. With over 66 acres of manicured grounds, the Dallas Arboretum. The Arboretum opened its doors in 1984, combining the 44-acre DeGolyer Estate, today,19 named gardens and numerous areas within combine to create one of the premier Dallas landmarks. The vibrant color displays in these gardens engage visitors of all ages throughout the seasons, built with native Texas limestone and wood and copper sheathing, this structure serves as the gateway to the gardens. Upon entering, visitors encounter the Scott K. Ginsburg Family Plaza and Junkins Fountain. This entryway gives visitors a glimpse of the 66 acres of stunning vistas ahead, designed by Naud Burnett II, the 6. 5-acre Margaret Elisabeth Jonsson Color Garden features large, sweeping beds of seasonal flowers and plants. The Color Garden is home to more than 2,000 varieties of azaleas, Summer brings a vibrant display of bananas and tapioca plants, while autumn ushers in brightly colored chrysanthemums. The Waterwise display, donated by Region IV of the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association, provides a location for home gardeners to learn how to install and manage a low-water landscape. The Palmer Fern Dell serves as a shady respite within the Color Garden, boasting a collection of ferns, camellias, azaleas and many other shade loving perennials, a Womans Garden is a gift from the Women’s Council of Dallas. This serene and nationally acclaimed Dallas garden features terraced walkways and exceptional views, phase 1 of this 1. 8-acre formal garden was designed in 1997 by landscape architect Morgan Wheelock. A Woman’s Garden is composed of several outdoor garden rooms including the Pecan Parterre

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
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DeGolyer Estate

14.
American Airlines Center
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The American Airlines Center is a multi-purpose arena, located in the Victory Park neighborhood, near downtown Dallas, Texas. The venue serves as the home to the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, the arena is also used for concerts and other live entertainment. It opened in 2001 at a cost of $420 million, by 1998, the Dallas Mavericks, then owned by H. Ross Perot, Jr. and the Dallas Stars were indicating their desire for a new facility to replace the dated Reunion Arena. The new arena was to be built just north of Woodall Rodgers Freeway near Interstate 35E on the site of an old power plant, on March 18,1999, American Airlines announced that it would be acquiring the naming rights for the arena for US$195 million. American Airlines is headquartered in Fort Worth and is based at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the first event occurred the next day with an Eagles concert. On the next night, the hosted the last show of Michael Flatleys Feet of Flames tour. The first sporting event took place on August 19,2001, principal design work was carried out by David M. Schwarz Architectural Services of Washington D. C. American Airlines Center was designed to be the heart of a new urban, the facility itself features a conservative, traditional design with sweeping brick façades and smooth arches, and has been graced with a number of awards. The interior includes retractable seating, public art and a state-of-the-art technological arena, because of the Quonset hut-like appearance of its roof and the fact that American Airlines holds the naming rights some fans have come to refer to it as The Hangar. On the south side of the arena AT&T Plaza serves as the entrance into the facility. The plaza provides a space with fountains flanked by retail. With several high-definition video displays from Daktronics mounted on the side of the arena and office buildings, after the Dallas Desperados played their first season in the AAC, they moved to nearby Reunion Arena and played there for their second season. For their third season, they moved back to the AAC, the AAC hosted the Big 12 Basketball Tournament in 2003,2004 &2006. The PBR hosted a Built Ford Tough Series bull riding event at the AAC, annually, between 2005 &2009. American Airlines Center, as well as American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, hosted the 2006 NBA Finals and this was both teams first appearance in the Finals. Because American Airlines held the rights to both venues in the final, the series was nicknamed by some as the American Airlines series, hosted the 55th National Hockey League All-Star Game on January 24,2007. Co-hosted the 2011 NBA Finals with American Airlines Arena in Miami and it was both teams second appearance in the Finals, and this time the Mavericks won in 6 games. On Saturday June 18,2011, it played host to Strikeforce, UFC103 was held at the Center on September 19,2009

15.
Flag of Dallas
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The current flag of Dallas, Texas was adopted February 13,1967. It is bisected horizontally by a white line with a dark red top. A large, white 5-pointed star dominates the flag and contains the city seal in buff, the flag in use between 1916 and 1967 was a non-rectangular flag with similar colors to the current flag. The top of the flag is red and the bottom is blue, the center of the flag contains the state of Texas in white with a star and the name Dallas marking the citys position in the state

Flag of Dallas
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Flag of Dallas

16.
Dallas County, Texas
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Dallas County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,368,139 and it is Texas second-most populous county and the ninth-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Dallas, which is also Texas third-largest city, the county was founded in 1846 and was possibly named for George Mifflin Dallas, the 11th Vice President of the United States under U. S. President James K. Polk. Dallas County is included in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 909 square miles, of which 873 square miles is land and 36 square miles is water. The population density was 2,523 people per square mile, There were 854,119 housing units at an average density of 971/sq mi. 38. 30% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,27. 30% of all households were made up of individuals and 5. 90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the family size was 3.34. As of the 2010 census, there were about 8.8 same-sex couples per 1,000 households in the county. In the wider county, the population was out with 27. 90% under the age of 18,10. 70% from 18 to 24,34. 40% from 25 to 44,18. 90% from 45 to 64. The median age was 31 years, for every 100 females there were 99.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.00 males, the median income for a household in the county was US$43,324, and the median income for a family was $49,062. Males had an income of $34,988 versus $29,539 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,603, about 10. 60% of families and 13. 40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18. 00% of those under age 18 and 10. 50% of those age 65 or over. Dallas County, like all counties in Texas, is governed by a Commissioners Court and this court consists of the county judge who is elected County-wide and four Commissioners who are elected by the voters in each of four districts. The Commissioners Court is the body for the County, in addition. Each commissioner also supervises a Road and Bridge District, the total 2010 fiscal year budget is approximately $871 million USD. Currently, the elected officials are There are 7 congressional districts either entirely or partly within Dallas County. There are 5 Republicans and 2 Democratic, There are 5 Texas Senate districts either entirely or partly within Dallas County

Dallas County, Texas
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The former Dallas County Courthouse in March 2009
Dallas County, Texas
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Dallas County Jail, 111 West Commerce Street

17.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation

Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.

18.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

19.
U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance

U.S. state
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U.S. states

20.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south

21.
List of counties in Texas
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The state of Texas is divided into 254 counties, more than any other U. S. state. Texas was originally divided into municipalities, a unit of government under Spanish. When the Republic of Texas gained its independence in 1836, there were 23 municipalities, many of these would later be divided into new counties. The last county to be created was Kenedy County in 1921. Most of these recent counties, especially near the northwest, were created from Bexar County during the 1870s, each county is run by a commissioners court, consisting of four elected commissioners and a county judge elected from all the voters of the county. In smaller counties, the county judge actually does perform judicial duties, certain officials, such as the sheriff and tax collector, are elected separately by the voters, but the commissioners court determines their office budgets, and sets overall county policy. All county elections are partisan, the one exception is the Board of Trustees of the Dallas County department of education, while the counties have eminent domain power and control all unincorporated land within their boundaries, they have neither home-rule authority nor zoning power. The county is responsible for providing essential services, unlike other US states, Texas does not allow for consolidated city-county governments. Cities and counties are permitted to enter interlocal agreements to share services, school districts are independent of county and city government. The Federal Information Processing Standard code, which is used by the United States government to identify states and counties, is provided with each entry. Texass code is 48, which combined with any county code would be written in the form of 48XXX. The FIPS code for each county in the links to census data for that county. There have been at least thirty-two counties established by Texas law that no longer exist, buchel County, formed in 1887 from Presidio County. Annexed in 1897 to Brewster County, Dawson County, formed in 1858 in what is now Kinney County and Uvalde County and abolished in 1866. Abolished in 1899 and annexed to Webb County, foley County, formed in 1887 from Presidio County. Annexed in 1897 to Brewster County, separated from Texas by U. S. Supreme Court ruling in United States v. State of Texas,162 U. S.1 and is now part of southwestern Oklahoma. Perdido County, formed in 1824 and forgotten during the upheavals of the 1840s, perdido was reportedly abolished in 1858 and again in 1871. Records of annexation to Dawson County are also inconclusive, Santa Fe County, Texas formed in 1848 from lands claimed by the Republic of Texas and ceded by Mexico

22.
Municipal corporation
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A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located, often, this event is marked by the award or declaration of a municipal charter. A city charter or town charter is a document establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages and is considered to be a version of a constitution. Traditionally the granting of a charter gave a settlement and its inhabitants the right to town privileges under the feudal system, townspeople who lived in chartered towns were burghers, as opposed to serfs who lived in villages. Towns were often free, in the sense that they were protected by the king or emperor. Today the process for granting charters is determined by the type of government of the state in question, in monarchies, charters are still often a royal charter given by the Crown or the state authorities acting on behalf of the Crown. In federations, the granting of charters may be within the jurisdiction of the level of government such as a state or province. In Brazil, municipal corporations are called municípios and are created by means of legislation at the state level. All municipal corporations must also abide by a municipal law which is passed and amended at the municipal level. In Canada charters are granted by provincial authorities, in Germany, municipal corporations existed since antiquity and through medieval times, until they became out of favour during the absolutism. In order to strengthen the spirit, the city law of Prussia dated 19 November 1808 picked up this concept. It is the basis of municipal law. In India, a Municipal Corporation is a local government body. This standard varies from state to state, according to laws passed by state legislatures, the Corporation of Chennai was the first Municipal Corporation in India. It was established on 29 September 1688 by the British East India Company, the second was Hyderabad Municipal Corporation established in 1869 by the Nizam rulers of Hyderabad State. The third was the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, established in 1876, the Bombay Municipal Corporation was established in 1888 by the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act. The Delhi Municipal Council was established in 1911 during the Delhi Durbar when New Delhi was proclaimed to be the new Capital of India and it was elevated to Municipal Corporation level on 7 April 1958 by an Act of Parliament which established the Municipal Corporation of Delhi

23.
Collin County, Texas
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Collin County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 782,341, making it the seventh-most populous county in Texas. Collin County is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area, a small portion of the city of Dallas is in the county. Both the county and the county seat were named after Collin McKinney, one of the five men who drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence and the oldest of the 59 men who signed it. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 886 square miles, the population density was 580 people per square mile. There were 194,892 housing units at a density of 230 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 81. 39% White,4. 79% Black or African American,0. 47% Native American,6. 92% Asian,0. 05% Pacific Islander,4. 26% from other races, and 2. 11% from two or more races. 10. 27% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,22. 10% of all households were made up of individuals and 3. 10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the family size was 3.18. As of the 2010 census, there were about 4.4 same-sex couples per 1,000 households in the county. In the county, the population was out with 28. 70% under the age of 18,7. 40% from 18 to 24,37. 90% from 25 to 44,20. 70% from 45 to 64. The median age was 33 years, for every 100 females there were 99.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.80 males, the median income for a household in the county was $70,835, and the median income for a family was $81,856. Males had an income of $57,392 versus $36,604 for females. The per capita income for the county was $33,345, about 3. 30% of families and 4. 90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5. 10% of those under age 18 and 7. 10% of those age 65 or over. Based on median household income, as of 2006, Collin County is the second richest county in Texas after Fort Bend, however, Collin - like other Texas counties - has one of the nations highest property tax rates. In 2007, it was #21 for property taxes as percentage of the value on owner occupied housing. It also ranked in the Top 100 for amount of property taxes paid, part of this is due to the Robin Hood plan school financing system in Texas

Collin County, Texas
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The Collin County Courthouse in McKinney

24.
Denton County, Texas
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Denton County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 662,614, the county, which was named for John B. Denton County is included in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, in 2007, it was one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States. Before the arrival of settlers, various Native American peoples, including the Kichai. The area was settled by Peters Colony landowners in the early 1840s, until the annexation of Texas, the area was considered part of Fannin County. On April 11,1846, the First Texas Legislature established Denton County, the county was named for John B. Denton, who was killed while raiding a Native American village in Tarrant County in 1841, originally, the county seat was set at Pickneyville. This was later changed to Alton, where the Old Alton Bridge currently stands, by 1860, the population of the county had increased to 5,031. On March 4,1861, residents of the county voted for secession from the Union. The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad reached Lewisville, located in the portion of the county. The Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square was built in 1896, and today the building houses various government offices as well as a museum. Lewisville Lake Lake Ray Roberts According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Denton County is located in the northern part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, approximately 35 miles south of the border between Texas and Oklahoma. It is drained by two forks of the Trinity River, the largest body of water in Denton County is Lewisville Lake, which was formed in 1954 when the Garza–Little Elm Reservoir was merged with Lake Dallas. The county is on the edge of the Eastern Cross Timbers. Portions of Denton County sit atop the Barnett Shale, a geological formation believed to contain quantities of natural shale gas. Between 1995 and 2007, the number of gas wells in the county increased from 156 to 1,820. The population density was 754.3 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 75% White,8. 4% Black or African American,0. 7% Native American,6. 6% Asian,0. 1% Pacific Islander,18. 2% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino origin

Denton County, Texas
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The new Denton County Courthouse, built 1998

25.
Rockwall County, Texas
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Rockwall County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. At 149 square miles, Rockwall County has the smallest area of any Texas county, as of the 2014 U. S. census estimate, its population was 87,809. The county and city are named for a wall-like subterranean rock formation that runs throughout the county, Rockwall County is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was one of the top 25 fastest-growing counties in the U. S. in 2010, Rockwall County is listed as the 6th wealthiest county in Texas. Its cities include Rockwall, Royse City, Fate, McClendon-Chisolm, Mobile City, Rockwall County was formed in 1873 from portions of Kaufman County. It split off because access to the county seat of Kaufman was inconvenient and it was named for its county seat, Rockwall. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 149 square miles and it is the smallest county by area in Texas. The population density was 334 people per square mile, there were 15,351 housing units at an average density of 119 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 89. 17% White,3. 24% Black or African American,0. 40% Native American,1. 32% Asian,0. 05% Pacific Islander,4. 45% from other races, and 1. 37% from two or more races. 11. 07% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,14. 40% of all households were made up of individuals and 4. 40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the family size was 3.23. In the county, the population was out with 30. 10% under the age of 18,7. 00% from 18 to 24,31. 10% from 25 to 44,23. 30% from 45 to 64. The median age was 35 years, for every 100 females there were 100.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.90 males, the median income for a household in the county was $65,164, and the median income for a family was $71,448. Males had an income of $49,636 versus $32,410 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,573, about 3. 80% of families and 4. 70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5. 60% of those under age 18 and 4. 10% of those age 65 or over

Rockwall County, Texas
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The Rockwall County Courthouse in Rockwall

26.
Kaufman County, Texas
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Kaufman County is a county in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 103,350, both the county, established in 1848, and the city were named for David S. Kaufman, a diplomat and U. S. Kaufman County is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area, western artist Frank Reaugh moved from Illinois to Kaufman County in 1876 to draw inspiration for his paintings such as The Approaching Herd. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 808 square miles. Located in the northeast portion of Texas, it is bounded on the southwest by Trinity River, interstate 20 U. S. Highway 80 U. S. The population density was 91/sq mi, there were 26,133 housing units at an average density of 33/sq mi. 11. 11% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,17. 80% of all households were made up of individuals and 7. 50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.87 and the family size was 3.24. In the county, the population was out with 29. 20% under the age of 18,8. 20% from 18 to 24,29. 50% from 25 to 44,22. 40% from 45 to 64. The median age was 35 years, for every 100 females there were 97.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.00 males, the median income for a household in the county was $44,783, and the median income for a family was $50,354. Males had an income of $35,537 versus $26,494 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,827, about 7. 80% of families and 10. 50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13. 30% of those under age 18 and 11. 80% of those age 65 or over. Kaufman County is part of the Dallas/Fort Worth DMA, local media outlets include, KDFW-TV, KXAS-TV, WFAA-TV, KTVT-TV, KERA-TV, KTXA-TV, KDFI-TV, KDAF-TV, KFWD-TV, and KDTX-TV. Other nearby stations that provide coverage for Kaufman County come from the Tyler/Longview/Jacksonville market and they include, KLTV, KYTX-TV, KFXK-TV, Kaufman County is served by three newspapers, the Terrell Tribune, the Kaufman Herald, and the Forney Messenger. Forney, Texas, is served by online news media outlet inForney. com who also covers breaking news for the county. A quarterly magazine called Kaufman County Life is produced by the Terrell Tribune, the Kemp and Mabank areas are included in coverage by The Monitor and Athens Daily Review newspapers. The Kaufman County Sheriffs Office is Kaufman Countys main police force, smaller cities depend on the sheriffs office along with the Texas Highway Patrol for law enforcement duties

Kaufman County, Texas
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The Kaufman County Courthouse in Kaufman

27.
Dallas City Council
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Dallas is a major city in the U. S. state of Texas. It is the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the citys population ranks ninth in the U. S. and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. The citys prominence arose from its importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries. The bulk of the city is in Dallas County, of which it is the county seat, however, sections of the city are located in Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. According to the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 1,197,816, the United States Census Bureaus estimate for the citys population increased to 1,300,092 as of July 1,2015. In 2016 DFW ascended to the one spot in the nation in year-over-year population growth. In 2014, the metropolitan economy surpassed Washington, D. C. to become the fifth largest in the U. S. with a 2014 real GDP over $504 billion, as such, the metropolitan areas economy is the 10th largest in the world. As of January 2017, the job count has increased to 3,558,200 jobs. The citys economy is based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare and medical research. The city is home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas, Dallas is the core of the largest metropolitan area in the South. Dallas and nearby Fort Worth were developed due to the construction of railroad lines through the area allowing access to cotton, cattle. Later, France also claimed the area but never established much settlement, the area remained under Spanish rule until 1821, when Mexico declared independence from Spain, and the area was considered part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. In 1836, the Republic of Texas, with majority Anglo-American settlers, in 1839, Warren Angus Ferris surveyed the area around present-day Dallas. John Neely Bryan established a permanent settlement near the Trinity River named Dallas in 1841, the origin of the name is uncertain. The Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845, Dallas was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1856. With construction of railroads, Dallas became a business and trading center and it became an industrial city, attracting workers from Texas, the South and the Midwest. The Praetorian Building of 15 stories, built in 1909, was the first skyscraper west of the Mississippi and it marked the prominence of Dallas as a city

28.
Democratic Party (United States)
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The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has also promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, overall, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president

29.
United States Census
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The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years. The United States Census Bureau is responsible for the United States Census, the first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790, under Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, there have been 22 federal censuses since that time. The current national census was held in 2010, the census is scheduled for 2020. For years between the censuses, the Census Bureau issues estimates made using surveys and statistical models, in particular. Title 13 of the United States Code governs how the Census is conducted, Information is confidential as per 13 U. S. C. The United States Census is a census, which is distinct from the U. S. Census of Agriculture. It is also distinct from local censuses conducted by some states or local jurisdictions, Decennial U. S. Census figures are based on actual counts of persons dwelling in U. S. residential structures. They include citizens, non-citizen legal residents, non-citizen long-term visitors, the Census Bureau bases its decision about whom to count on the concept of usual residence. Usual residence, a principle established by the Census Act of 1790, is defined as the place a person lives, the Census also uses hot deck imputation to assign data to housing units where occupation status is unknown. This practice has effects across many areas, but is seen by some as controversial, however, the practice was ruled constitutional by the U. S. Supreme Court in Utah v. Evans. Certain American citizens living overseas are specifically excluded from being counted in the even though they may vote. Only Americans living abroad who are Federal employees and their dependents living overseas with them are counted, private U. S. citizens living abroad who are not affiliated with the Federal government will not be included in the overseas counts. These overseas counts are used solely for reapportioning seats in the U. S, in the United States recent censuses, Census Day has been April 1. However, it was previously in August, as per instructions given to U. S. Marshals, All the questions refer to the day when the enumeration is to commence. Disadvantaged minorities are more likely to be undercounted. For example, the Census Bureau estimates that in 1970 over six percent of blacks went uncounted, democrats often argue that modern sampling techniques should be used so that more accurate and complete data can be inferred. Republicans often argue against such sampling techniques, stating the U. S, constitution requires an actual enumeration for apportionment of House seats, and that political appointees would be tempted to manipulate the sampling formulas. Although the sticker was unofficial and the results were not added to the census, she, in 2015 Laverne Cox called for transgender people to be counted in the census

30.
List of United States cities by population
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The following is a list of the most populous incorporated places of the United States. As defined by the United States Census Bureau, an incorporated place includes a variety of designations, including city, town, village, borough, a few exceptional Census Designated Places are also included in the Census Bureaus listing of incorporated places. Consolidated city-counties represent a type of government that includes the entire population of a county. Some consolidated city-counties, however, include multiple incorporated places and this list presents only that portion of such consolidated city-counties that are not a part of another incorporated place. A different ranking is evident when considering U. S. metropolitan area populations, the following table lists the 304 incorporated places in the United States with a population of at least 100,000 on July 1,2015, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau. A city is displayed in if it is a state or federal capital. Five states—Delaware, Maine, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming—do not have cities with populations of 100,000 or more, smaller incorporated places are not included. The mean density is 4,128.21 inhabitants per square mile, the median is 3,160.85 inhabitants per square mile. The following table lists the five municipalities of Puerto Rico with a greater than 100,000 on July 1,2016. Census-designated places with populations of at least 100,000 according to the 2010 Census, a CDP is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns. CDPs are populated areas that lack separate municipal government, but which otherwise physically resemble incorporated places, unlike the incorporated cities in the main list, the US Census Bureau does not release annual population estimates for CDPs. S. Cities that, in past censuses, have had populations of at least 100,000 but have since decreased beneath this threshold or have been consolidated with or annexed into a neighboring city. The percent decline in population from its peak Census count to the most recent Census estimate in 2015, any additional notes of significant importance. Demographics of the United States United States Census Bureau List of U. S. S

List of United States cities by population
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Population tables of U.S. cities
List of United States cities by population
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The ten most populous cities of the United States
List of United States cities by population
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"List of largest cities in the United States" redirects here. For a list of largest cities by area, see List of United States cities by area.
List of United States cities by population

31.
Urban area
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An urban area is a human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, in urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets and in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment. The worlds urban population in 1950 of just 746 million has increased to 3.9 billion in the decades since, in 2009, the number of people living in urban areas surpassed the number living in rural areas and since then the world has become more urban than rural. This was the first time that the majority of the population lived in a city. In 2014 there were 7.25 billion people living on the planet, Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Urban areas are measured for various purposes, including analyzing population density, historian John Gurda writes, I have tried to uncover Milwaukees civic bedrock - the shifting foundation on which individuals have built their lives and the community has constructed its identity. There is no doubt that the deepest layer of bedrock is economic. In every age, people have chosen to live in areas not because of their climates or landmarks or cultural attractions. It was economic opportunity that brought people to Milwaukee, and it is economic opportunity that keeps them there, I define cities as concentrations of people animated by concentrations of capital. More simply put, money is the root of all cities, official definitions vary somewhat between nations. The ten largest metropolitan areas account for half of the population, about 3 million people live in Buenos Aires City and the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area totals around 13 million, making it one of the largest urban areas in the world. The metropolitan areas of Córdoba, Rosario, Mendoza and Tucumán have around 1.3 million inhabitants each and La Plata, seven other provinces have over one million people each, Mendoza, Tucumán, Entre Ríos, Salta, Chaco, Corrientes and Misiones. According to IBGE urban areas already concentrate 84. 35% of the population, while the Southeast region remains the most populated one, with over 80 million inhabitants. The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte — all in the Southeastern Region — with 20,12, and 5 million inhabitants respectively. The majority of state capitals are the largest cities in their states, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, there are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. According to Statistics Canada, an area in Canada is an area with a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than 400 persons per square kilometre. If two or more areas are within 2 km of each other by road, they are merged into a single urban area. Accordingly, the new definition set out three types of population centres, small, medium and large

32.
List of United States urban areas
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Below is a list of urban areas in the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau, ordered according to their 2010 census populations. In the table, UA refers to urbanized area and UC refers to urban cluster, the list includes urban areas with a population of at least 50,000. To qualify as an area, the territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,500 people. These criteria result in large urban agglomerations that encompass multiple urban areas from the 2000 census. The Census Bureau is considering whether to split up the larger agglomerations, but published potential agglomerations in August 2010. S

List of United States urban areas
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Population tables of U.S. cities
List of United States urban areas
List of United States urban areas
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1 – New York City, New York
List of United States urban areas
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2 – Los Angeles, California

33.
Metropolitan area
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As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people

34.
Combined statistical area
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A combined statistical area is composed of adjacent metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in the United States and Puerto Rico that can demonstrate economic or social linkage. These areas that retain their own designations as metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas within the larger combined statistical area. The primary distinguishing factor between a CSA and an MSA is that the social and economic ties between the individual MSAs within a CSA are at lower levels than between the counties within an MSA, cSAs represent multiple metropolitan or micropolitan areas that have an employment interchange of 25. CSAs often represent regions with overlapping labor and media markets, as of July 2012, there are 166 combined statistical areas in the United States, plus three in Puerto Rico. S. S. Combined Statistical Areas of the United States and Puerto Rico, link United States Government United States Census Bureau 2010 United States Census USCB population estimates United States Office of Management and Budget

Combined statistical area
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Population tables of U.S. cities
Combined statistical area
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An enlargeable map of the 169 Combined Statistical Areas (CSAs) of the United States and Puerto Rico

35.
List of Combined Statistical Areas
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A combined statistical area is composed of adjacent metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in the United States and Puerto Rico that can demonstrate economic or social linkage. These areas that retain their own designations as metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas within the larger combined statistical area. The primary distinguishing factor between a CSA and an MSA is that the social and economic ties between the individual MSAs within a CSA are at lower levels than between the counties within an MSA, cSAs represent multiple metropolitan or micropolitan areas that have an employment interchange of 25. CSAs often represent regions with overlapping labor and media markets, as of July 2012, there are 166 combined statistical areas in the United States, plus three in Puerto Rico. S. S. Combined Statistical Areas of the United States and Puerto Rico, link United States Government United States Census Bureau 2010 United States Census USCB population estimates United States Office of Management and Budget

List of Combined Statistical Areas
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Population tables of U.S. cities

36.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above

Demonym
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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns

37.
Central Time Zone (North America)
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The North American Central Time Zone is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time is six hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, during summer most of the zone uses daylight saving time, and changes to Central Daylight Time which is five hours behind UTC. The province of Manitoba is the province or territory in Canada that observes Central Time in all areas. Also, most of the province of Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time year-round, major exceptions include Lloydminster, a city situated on the boundary between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city charter stipulates that it shall observe Mountain Time and DST, putting the community on the time as all of Alberta, including the major cities of Calgary. As a result, during the summer, clocks in the province match those in Alberta. The Central Time Zone is the second most populous in the US after the Eastern Time Zone, lanett and Valley observe Eastern Time historically because they were textile mill towns and the original home office of their mills was in West Point, Georgia. Some eastern counties observe Central Time because they are close to the border of the Middle Tennessee counties surrounding the Nashville metropolitan area. Louisiana Michigan, All of Michigan observes Eastern Time except the four Upper Peninsula counties that border Wisconsin, other westernmost counties from this area such as Ontonagon observe Eastern Time. South Dakota, Eastern half as divided by the Missouri river adjacent to the state capital, note, the metropolitan area of Pierre is Central, including Fort Pierre. Wisconsin Most of Mexico—roughly the eastern three-fourths—lies in the Central Time Zone, except for six northwestern states, the federal entities of Mexico that observe Central Time, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all use Central Standard Time year-round. The Galápagos Islands in Ecuador uses Central Standard Time all year-round, Daylight saving time is in effect in much of the Central time zone between mid-March and early November. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time and is UTC−5, in Canada, Saskatchewan does not observe a time change. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in a change is that, geographically. The province elected to move onto permanent daylight saving by being part of the Central Time Zone, Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observes their horario de verano from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In December 2009, the Mexican Congress allowed ten border cities, eight of which are in states that observe Central Time, to adopt the U. S. daylight time schedule effective in 2010

Central Time Zone (North America)
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Regions in the Central Time Zone

38.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year

39.
UTC-5
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UTC−05,00 is a time offset that subtracts five hours from Coordinated Universal Time. In North America, it is observed in the Eastern Time Zone during standard time, the western Caribbean uses it year round. The southwestern and northwestern portions of Indiana Mexico – Central Zone Central, in most of Mexico, daylight time starts a few weeks after the United States. Communities on the U. S. border that observe Central Time follow the U. S. daylight time schedule

UTC-5
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Behind (−)

40.
ZIP code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001

ZIP code
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A 1963 U.S. Post Office sign encouraging the use of ZIP codes
ZIP code
ZIP code
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"Use Zip code" labels were also used to promote the use of a ZIP code.
ZIP code
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USA postage stamp, 1973: "It all depends on ZIP code".

41.
North American Numbering Plan
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The North American Numbering Plan is a telephone numbering plan that encompasses 25 distinct regions in twenty countries primarily in North America, including the Caribbean and the U. S. territories. Not all North American countries participate in the NANP, each participating country forms a regulatory authority that has plenary control over local numbering resources. The FCC also serves as the U. S. regulator, Canadian numbering decisions are made by the Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium. The NANP divides the territories of its members into numbering plan areas which are encoded numerically with a telephone number prefix. Each telephone is assigned a telephone number unique only within its respective plan area. The telephone number consists of a central office code and a four-digit station number. The combination of a code and the telephone number serves as a destination routing address in the public switched telephone network. For international call routing, the NANP has been assigned the calling code 1 by the International Telecommunications Union. The North American Numbering Plan conforms with ITU Recommendation E.164, from its beginnings in 1876 and throughout the first part of the 20th century, the Bell System grew from essentially local or regional telephone systems. These systems expanded by growing their subscriber bases, as well as increasing their service areas by implementing additional local exchanges that were interconnected with tie trunks and it was the responsibility of each local administration to design telephone numbering plans that accommodated the local requirements and growth. As a result, the Bell System as a developed into an unorganized system of many differing local numbering systems. The diversity impeded the efficient operation and interconnection of exchanges into a system for long-distance telephone communication. The new numbering plan was accepted in October 1947, dividing most of North America into 86 Numbering Plan Areas. Each NPA was assigned a Numbering Plan Area code, often abbreviated as area code and these codes were first used by long-distance operators to establish long-distance calls between toll offices. The first customer-dialed direct call using area codes was made on November 10,1951, from Englewood, New Jersey, to Alameda, California. Direct distance dialing was introduced across the country and by the early 1960s most areas of the Bell System had been converted and it was commonplace in cities. In the following decades, the system expanded to all of the United States and its territories, Canada, Bermuda. By 1967,129 area codes had been assigned, mexican participation was planned, but implementation stopped after two area codes had been assigned and Mexico opted for an international numbering format, using country code 52

North American Numbering Plan
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Letters of the alphabet are mapped to the digits of the telephone dial pad.
North American Numbering Plan
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Countries participating in NANP

42.
Area codes 214, 469, and 972
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214,469, and 972 are the North American telephone area codes for Dallas, Texas, and most of the eastern portion of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The main area code,214, was one of the area codes established in October 1947. It originally covered the northeastern quadrant of Texas, from Fort Worth to the border with Arkansas. In 1954, most of Tarrant County was combined with much of the portion of area code 915 to form area code 817. In 1990, the eastern portion of the 214 area code was split off as area code 903. Additionally, the entire Metroplex is a single LATA, so numbers in 817 werent available for use. To solve this problem, in 1995 all of the old 214 territory outside of the Dallas Central Business District was split off as area code 972, within only two years, however, both 214 and 972 were on the verge of exhaustion. To solve the problem, area code 469 was introduced on July 1,1999 as an overlay for most of the portion of the Metroplex. At the same time, the 214-972 boundary was erased, and 972 was converted into an overlay for the entire region. The result was three area codes overlaying the same area, with ten-digit dialing required for all calls, in addition, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is served by area code 972

Area codes 214, 469, and 972

43.
Area codes 682 and 817
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Area codes 682 and 817 are Texas telephone area codes for numbers in Fort Worth and most of the western portion of the Metroplex. Area code 817 was created as a flash-cut sometime during 1953, based on proximity, however, it was probably split from the 915 area code. Originally, it not only covered the portion of the Metroplex, but much of central Texas, the Texoma region. In 1957, Lubbock and the South Plains were combined with part of 915 to form area code 806, on July 25,1997 it was reduced to its current size in a three-way split. The northern portion became area code 940, while the southern portion became area code 254. This was intended as a solution, but within two years 817 was in fear of exhausting once again due to the explosive growth in the Metroplex. The problem was magnified by the fact that the entire Metroplex is a single LATA, to solve this problem, area code 682 was overlaid onto the 817 territory on October 7,2000. Certain areas in east Tarrant County generally closer to Dallas were overlaid with area codes 214 and 972 instead of 682, in those following named areas,817 mainly serves the areas alongside 214 and 972 area codes. In addition, Ridgmar Mall is served by 817, list of Texas area codes NANPA Area Code Map of Texas

Area codes 682 and 817

44.
Geographic Names Information System
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It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles, Policies, and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes

45.
Interstate Highway System
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The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways is a network of controlled-access highways that forms a part of the National Highway System of the United States. The system is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed its formation, construction was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, and the original portion was completed 35 years later, although some urban routes were cancelled and never built. The network has since been extended and, as of 2013, as of 2013, about one-quarter of all vehicle miles driven in the country use the Interstate system. In 2006, the cost of construction was estimated at about $425 billion, the nations revenue needs associated with World War I prevented any significant implementation of this policy, which expired in 1921. In the plan, Mehren proposed a 50, 000-mile system, the system would include two percent of all roads and would pass through every state at a cost of $25,000 per mile, providing commercial as well as military transport benefits. As the landmark 1916 law expired, new legislation was passed—the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 and this new road construction initiative once again provided for federal matching funds for road construction and improvement, $75 million allocated annually. The Bureau of Public Roads asked the Army to provide a list of roads that it considered necessary for national defense. A boom in construction followed throughout the decade of the 1920s. As automobile traffic increased, planners saw a need for such a national system to supplement the existing, largely non-freeway. By the late 1930s, planning had expanded to a system of new superhighways, in 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave Thomas MacDonald, chief at the Bureau of Public Roads, a hand-drawn map of the United States marked with eight superhighway corridors for study. He recognized that the system would also provide key ground transport routes for military supplies. The publication in 1955 of the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways, informally known as the Yellow Book, assisting in the planning was Charles Erwin Wilson, who was still head of General Motors when President Eisenhower selected him as Secretary of Defense in January 1953. The Interstate Highway System was authorized on June 29,1956 by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate, three states have claimed the title of first Interstate Highway. Missouri claims that the first three contracts under the new program were signed in Missouri on August 2,1956, the first contract signed was for upgrading a section of US Route 66 to what is now designated Interstate 44. On August 13,1956, Missouri awarded the first contract based on new Interstate Highway funding, kansas claims that it was the first to start paving after the act was signed. Preliminary construction had taken place before the act was signed, the state marked its portion of I-70 as the first project in the United States completed under the provisions of the new Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The Pennsylvania Turnpike could also be considered one of the first Interstate Highways, on October 1,1940,162 miles of the highway now designated I‑70 and I‑76 opened between Irwin and Carlisle. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania refers to the turnpike as the Granddaddy of the Pikes, October 12,1979, The final section of the Canada to Mexico freeway Interstate 5 is dedicated near Stockton, California

Interstate Highway System
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A rural stretch of I-5, with two lanes in each direction separated by a large grassy median and with cross-traffic limited to overpasses and underpasses
Interstate Highway System
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Interstate Highways in the 48 contiguous states. Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico also have Interstate Highways. (See version with numbers.)
Interstate Highway System
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I‑55 under construction in Mississippi, photo from May 1972
Interstate Highway System
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Interstate highway in New Jersey built to modern standards

46.
Interstate 20 in Texas
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The original distance of Interstate 20 was 647 miles from I-10 to the Louisiana border, reduced to the current distance of 636 miles with the rerouting of I-20 in the 1980s and 1990s. I-20 is known as the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Interstate 20 in Texas was designated in 1959, and was to replace or run parallel to U. S. Route 80. Initial construction began from east to west and as bypass loops around larger cities, in 1971, I-20 was rerouted across the southern side of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, with the old section through downtown Dallas and Fort Worth being redesignated as Interstate 30. In 1991, the entire concurrent designation of US80 was removed from the I-10 interchange to Dallas, I-20 begins at a junction with I-10 in a desolate region of West Texas about 6 miles east of the town of Kent. I-20 leaves the interchange with I-10 with a limit of 80 until Milemarker 89. Interstate 20 also generally heads to the east-northeast passing by the cities of Odessa, I-20 runs concurrently with the La Entrada al Pacífico corridor from its junction with US385 in Odessa to its junction with FM1788 near Midland International Airport. Near Sweetwater, I-20 begins to head east as it heads towards the city of Abilene, in Abilene, I-20 curves towards the north and transverses the northern part of the city while also forming the northern arc of the loop around the city. In Weatherford, I-20 again heads back towards the east as it heads towards the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, I-20 interchanges with I-30 west of Fort Worth with I-30 heading east and I-20 to the southeast. I-20 heads back towards the east when it interchanges with Interstate 820, I-20 forms the southern arc of the complete loop around the city of Fort Worth, and serves as the southernmost west–east freeway in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Interchanging with I-35W south of downtown Fort Worth, I-20 heads east towards Dallas passing through Arlington, from Arlington, I-20 passes into Dallas County at Grand Prairie and heads east in to Dallas, interchanging with I-35E south of downtown and I-45 shortly after. I-20 intersects with I-635 on Dallas southeast side before heading east towards East Texas, the interstate varies from 4 to 10 lanes from its I-30 junction near Weatherford to its US-80 junction near Terrell. I-20 leaves the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and heads generally to the east-southeast through East Texas, I-20 begins heading to the east as it passes to the north of the city of Tyler at Lindale, Texas. The intersection of I-20 at US69 in Lindale is the highest traffic count intersection on I-20 east of Terrell to the Louisiana state line, from Lindale, I-20 continues east, going through Kilgore in the piney woods region of East Texas. I-20 leaves the state of Texas near Waskom and just west of Shreveport, Interstate 20 has one auxiliary route in Texas. Interstate 820 is a 35. 2-mile loop around the city of Fort Worth, I-20 absorbed the southern section as part of its relocation to the south and I-30 being extended westward over the old alignment of I-20 through the center of town. All of the business loops within Texas are maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, Interstate 20 has fifteen business loops in the state, all located in western Texas. Along I-20, TxDOT identifies each business route as Business Interstate 20 followed by an alphabetic suffix, along Texas Interstates, the alphabetic suffixes on business route names ascend eastward and northward. There are gaps in the values to allow for future system expansion

47.
Interstate 30
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Interstate 30 is an Interstate Highway in the southern United States spanning Texas and Arkansas. I-30 runs from I-20 west of Fort Worth, Texas, northeast via Dallas, the route parallels U. S. Route 67 except for the portion west of downtown Dallas. I-30 intersects with two of the 10 major north–south Interstates and also with the major Interstate routes I-20. I-30 is known as the Tom Landry Freeway between I-35W and I-35E, within the core of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, I-30 is the shortest two-digit Interstate ending in zero in the Interstate system. The Interstates ending in 0 are generally the longest east–west Interstates and it is also the second shortest major Interstate, behind Interstate 45. The largest areas that I-30 goes through include the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, the Texarkana metropolitan area, the section of I-30 between Dallas and Fort Worth is designated the Tom Landry Highway in honor of the long-time Dallas Cowboys coach. Though I-30 passed well south of Texas Stadium, the Cowboys former home, their new stadium in Arlington, however, the freeway designation was made before Arlington voted to build Cowboys Stadium. This section was known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, which preceded the Interstate System. Although tolls had not been collected for years, it was still known locally as the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike until receiving its present name. The section from downtown Dallas to Arlington was recently widened to over 16 lanes in some sections, in Dallas, I-30 is known as East R. L. Thornton Freeway between downtown Dallas and the eastern suburb of Mesquite. I-30 picks up the name from I-35E south at the Mixmaster interchange, the Mixmaster is scheduled to be reconstructed as part of the Horseshoe project, derived from the larger Pegasus Project. The section from downtown Dallas to Loop 12 is eight lanes plus an HOV lane and this section will be reconstructed under the Eastern Gateway project to 12 lanes by 2020. From Rockwall to a point past Sulphur Springs, I-30 runs concurrent with US67, through the city of Greenville, I-30 is known as Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway. I-30 continues northesterly through East Texas until a few miles from the Texas-Oklahoma border, I-30 enters southwestern Arkansas in Texarkana which is the twin city of Texarkana, Texas. Here, I-30 intersect I-49, Like in Texas, I-30 travels in a direction as it proceeds north east through the state. I-30 then passes through Hope which is where former President Bill Clinton was born, I-30 then serves Prescott, Gurdon, Arkadelphia, and Malvern. At Malvern, drivers can use US70 or US270 to travel into historic Hot Springs or beyond into Ouachita National Forest, about at this location, US70 and US67 join I-30 and stay with the interstate into the Little Rock city limits. Northeast of Malvern, I-30 passes through Benton, before reaching the Little Rock city limits, from Benton to its end at I-40, I-30 is a six-lane highway with up to 85,000 vehicles per day